The Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) has announced that its members will embark on a nationwide industrial action starting September 15, 2025, coinciding with the official opening of the third school term.
The strike is a protest against the government’s prolonged inaction in addressing what the union describes as unfair salary disparities among teachers.
The decision was made following special sittings of UNATU’s National Executive Council on September 10 and Branch Chairpersons on September 11. It stems from the government’s failure to resolve salary discrepancies that emerged during the FY2022/2023 increments, which reportedly left out specific categories of teachers in primary and post-primary schools and education institutions, while some colleagues received up to a 300% increment.
According to a press release issued by UNATU General Secretary Baguma Filbert Bates, repeated engagements with government offices, including written requests for meetings with the Office of the President and the Office of the Head of Public Service, and formal communications to the Ministries of Public Service and Education, have yielded no action. UNATU also petitioned the Equal Opportunities Commission but has received no feedback on the outcome.
“Our Industrial Action over the same issue was only suspended on July 4th, 2022, to allow for negotiations,” the press release stated. “Owing to the fact that Government has remained silent about resolving the dispute for over three years, the affected teachers… who were told to be patient as Government works out a satisfactory solution… have decided to lay down their tools.”
Effective September 15, all UNATU members in the affected categories across primary and post-primary schools and education institutions are instructed not to report for duty. The union emphasized that this industrial action will remain in force until the government takes “concrete and verifiable steps” to address the salary disparities.
UNATU reiterated that the action is non-political and it solely focused on the welfare of its members; that it is a call for equity and fairness – advocating that “no teacher should be left behind in salary enhancements that all teachers matter!” UNATU added that strike is lawful and peaceful and in line with the right to take industrial action when dialogue fails.
General Secretary Bates urged the government to “urgently engage with the Union and provide a clear commitment to resolve this matter in order to avert prolonged disruption of the school calendar especially at such a critical time.”
In a direct message to its members, Bates labeled the situation “the moment of truth,” highlighting “three years of waiting. Three years of frustration” for those excluded from pay raises.
He called on every affected teacher to “remain at home” on September 15, stating, “By staying away from school, we will send a clear and unmistakable message to Government that teachers cannot and will not continue to be ignored… Let our absence from the school compounds be louder than the excuses from Government.”
