The Uganda National Teachers Union has hit back at the minister of public service Muruli Mukasa over the proposed 25 percent salary increment for teachers and the manner in which it was announced, insisting they will not call off their ongoing strike.
For the past weeks, teachers have kept away from classrooms, leaving thousands of learners stranded with no lessons taking place, especially in rural areas where many schools have no alternative teachers or support staff to step in.
The Minister of Public Service Wilson Muruli Mukasa while addressing the press on Thursday October 2, 2025, at Uganda Media Centre, declared the ongoing strike as illegal, calling on teacher and local government workers to return to work.
He said the government has already put in motion arrangements to implement a 25 percent salary increase in the next financial year 2026/2027.
He noted that the government, currently finalizing the budget, has already determined the financial requirements for the pay enhancement.
According to Mukasa, the Ministry determined the financial requirements for enhancement of the Humanity Teachers as well as for Public Universities, Primary School Teachers, and other Public Officers who are earning below 25 percent of the 77 percent approved long-term pay targets.
If the proposed 25 percent salary increment is implemented, degree holder secondary school art teachers, currently earning Shs1,078,162, would earn Shs1,347,703.
Diploma holder secondary school teachers, earning Shs784,214 would move to Shs980,268 while their primary school counterparts, now on Shs499,684, would bang Shs624,605.
The minister’s statement, however, remained silent on other promises made by President Museveni to teachers, including a 20 percent tax waiver on the pay-as-you-earn tax.
He rather warned that negotiations on salary enhancement are still ongoing and the disputes settlement machinery has not been exhausted.
He added that no union has obtained the legally required certificate from the Public Service Negotiating and Consultative Council, effectively making the ongoing strikes illegal, and ordered teachers to call off the strike immediately.
“In view of the above, the 90-day notice contained in your letters do not meet the legal requirements. Accordingly, any plans by your Unions to proceed with industrial action under the circumstances are illegal and should not be pursued,” the minister added.
Muruli warned that the government will dismiss any teachers who refuse to return to duty and will recruit others willing to work.
UNATU’s FIRES BACK
However, Filbert Baguma, the General Secretary UNATU, described the pronouncement by the minister as an unserious approach and accused the government of playing to the gallery instead of engaging in constructive dialogue.
Baguma, expressed shock in the manner in which the Mukasa announced the proposed 25 percent salary enhancement for the teachers, insisting that UNATU cannot accept such pronouncements, which lack official communication.
He argued that this is not the first time the ministry has made such promises, citing 20224, incident where the State Minister for Public Service Grace Mary Mugisa told secondary art teachers to call of the strike, claiming the increment had been included in the 2025/2026 budget, yet nothing was allocated.
Baguma also questioned how the 25 percent figure was determined, pointing out that science teachers had previously received a 300 percent salary increase.
He said such matters should be discussed directly between the union and government, not announced at press conferences.
Reading the minister’s language as ‘threatening’, Filbert Baguma said the minister should review his files and he would find that teachers suspended their 2022 strike and have since been trying to engage the government without success.
He added that after the strike started, the ministry held a meeting to recognize the strike and teachers’ grievances.
Baguma questioned how the minister who attended that meeting could be the same person delivering statements at the press conference and affirmed that the strike will continue regardless of the threats on the teachers.
CREDIT: URN
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