Effectiveness of Trade Union in Handling Teachers Grievances in Public Sector

Abstract

This study assessed the effectiveness of trade unions in handling teacher's grievances in the public sector with reference to TTU in Arusha City Council, specifically finding out the leading grievances among teachers, the mechanisms used by TTU to deal with teachers' grievances and assessing the extent to which 1 1 U has successfully managed to curb teachers' grievances. The study was guided by conflict theory to explain teachers' grievance using explanatory research design, mixed research approach, 650 target populations comprising TTU leaders and complaints with 95 sample size (10 TTU leaders and 85 teachers) and simple random sampling techniques. The study involved teachers with complaints who filled semi-structured questionnaires and TTU leaders interviewed, as well as a documentary review relating teachers registered complaints from TTU leaders were. Data collected through questionnaires were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS, Version 25.0) whereas for qualitative. The findings were; promotion was the leading factor towards teachers' grievances. Also, TTU leaders were using a poor mechanism to solve teachers' grievances, such as engagement and dialogue through which were perceived as politically oriented; not only did TTU have poor mechanism but also lacked leadership training. For that case, TTU leaders failed to curb teachers' grievances which then are still exiting. The study concludes that the continued teachers' grievances result from ineffective TTU leadership. The study recommends that; the government should increase the budget for promoting legible teachers; regular training and awareness among TTU Members, and TTU leaders recommended deploying proper strategies to reduce teachers' grievances.