 For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. The strike by Zimbabwe's public school teachers entered its third week on Monday, October 12th. It is being led by unions such as Zimbabwe Teachers Association, Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, and Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe. Last week, President Emerson Menangagwa threatened the teachers who have refused to return to work since the reopening of schools on September 28th. The president said that those who are staying off work will not be paid and will not be considered at work. Zimbabwe's teachers say that with their current salaries, they cannot even afford to go to work. The teachers have seen their salaries decline from the equivalent of around $550 US dollars to a mere $30 to $35 US dollars in the span of two years. Obert Masararue, president of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said that the teachers have not earned a genuine salary since 2018. After the strike began, the government offered a 40% hike. However, even this was insufficient, it would not have even raised their salaries to the equivalent of $50 a month. Takafa Firazou, the president of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said that the hike was not even enough to buy a pair of shoes or a shirt. The country's currency has declined at an alarming rate over the past two years. As such, workers' wages have declined on an average by roughly 85% over the last two years. The government has done barely anything to make up for the declining currency. It says it is facing a financial crisis and so it cannot restore the lost value of their wages. The country continues to be hard hit by unilateral coercive measures or sanctions by several countries, which also limits economic recovery. Workers maintain that it is a question of setting the right priorities. For instance, the government gave $3.5 billion as a compensation to white farmers whose lands were redistributed during the land reform process.