Harare - Teachers at Zimbabwe's state schools have gone on strike since the beginning of the new term last week because of low pay, according to teacher union representatives.

"We have declared a strike, and quite a big chunk of the teaching force didn't report for work while those who did report, were not working," Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers' Union, said Sunday.

The Zimbabwe Teachers' Association, the larger of the two unions and traditionally viewed as pro-government, have not declared a strike, but effectively is part of the action.

"The teachers' simply cannot afford to go to work, you can't call that a strike," ZIMTA president Tendai Chikowore was quoted as saying in the weekly Standard newspaper. "They have no capacity to report for duty. They cannot even access basic commodities."

Majongwe said the country's estimated 70,000 qualified teachers earned about 937 Zimbabwe dollars a month, the equivalent of about 4 US dollars.

"Government is paying us an amount that won't buy a newspaper (the country's main independent newspapers went up this week to 1, 000 Zimbabwe dollars), and they expect us to provide for their families and get to and from work."

"We are not going back" until government paid the equivalent of 800 US dollars, he said. "We have been very cooperative up to now, but the government has taken this as foolishness."

The teacher's strike came as a state hospital doctors' strike entered its fourth month, amid reports that they had been joined by nurses.

The mounting labour unrest occurs as the country's economic crash gathers momentum, with inflation officially stated as 11 million per cent although independent economists put it at about 35 million per cent.

At the same time, food shortages are rampant and cash is critically short, the central bank allowing maximum withdrawals from private banks of 500 Zimbabwe dollars (2 US dollars).

President Robert Mugabe blames the situation on alleged sanctions by Western nations, but the situation is widely regarded as the result of reckless economic policies and wildly profligate state spending under the 84-year-old dictator's rule. (dpa)