March the 18th, 2025 – Croatian teachers, lecturers and professors are set to hold a one day strike on Wednesday. The Education Ministry claims they have “no reason” to strike.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Education Ministry has announced that Croatian teachers, lecturers and professors will not be paid for any days spent on strike. An additional threat comes in the form of students having to have their academic year extended by the number of days any such strike lasts.
Croatian teachers, lecturers and professors of primary and secondary schools, faculties, employees of scientific institutes and support institutions in science and higher education are going on strike, initially for one day on Wednesday. If their demands fail to be met (at least three out of their five demands should be met) the strike will continue for as long as necessary. The upcoming strike will likely remind many of the largest strike in educational institutions to date, which began six years ago, recalls Večernji list.
“The strike will go on for one single day, and after it ends you’ll all be informed about the continuation of our activities. We don’t intend to stop at this warning strike, we’re planning a progressive strike so that each subsequent one will be broader or deeper, in any case, each will be different. The sooner we establish a dialogue about accepting fair, just, justified and feasible demands, the sooner we’ll put a stop to our activities,” stated Željko Stipić from the Preporod trade union.
the education ministry says croatian teachers have “no reason to strike”
In response, the Education Ministry has claimed that employees working in the education system have achieved more than 60 percent of a cumulative increase. The average salary now taken home each month by an elementary school teacher who hasn’t been promoted since 2019 has increased by 67 percent, amounting to 1,481 euros. A teacher in that same position took home 886 euros back in 2019, 955 euros one year later, and in 2021, their average salary stood at 1,028.
The ministry claims that that salary has only continued to grow, regardless of the fact that a teacher in said position hasn’t been promoted since 2019. In 2023, it amounted to 1,257 euros, and in 2024 it amounted to 1,487 euros. Unlike teachers who haven’t advanced their careers in the system, elementary school teachers who have advanced to the position of adviser teacher from 2019 to today have seen an average salary increase of 70 percent.
Back in 2019, the average salary for an adviser teacher stood at 1,133 euros, a year later it was 1,228 euros. In 2023 the average salary for this position was 1,602 euros, and this year in January, they were paid an average salary of 1,928 euros, according to Večernji list.
In secondary schools, from 2019 to today, teachers’ salaries have increased by 70 percent and now amount to 1,589 euros. Mentor teachers’ salaries have also increased by 70 percent. That means that the average salary paid out in January this year amounted to 1,790 euros, and teachers’ salaries in secondary schools have increased by 71 percent – making the average salary 1,995 euros.
In higher education, from 2019 to the present, the average salary of an assistant has increased by 58 percent, that of a senior assistant by 54 percent, that of an assistant professor by 54 percent. An associate professor has seen their salary rise by 60 percent, a full professor has seen theirs go up by 56 percent, and a full professor with a permanent title has seen a rise of 47 percent.
The average salary of a full professor with a permanent title today stands at 3,178 euros. Last year, the average salary of a full professor with a permanent title was 3,152 euros, and the median totalled 3,135 euros. The average salary paid to the same full professor with a permanent title back in 2019 came to 2,162 euros. The average salary of an assistant at faculties back in 2019 came to 882 euros, in 2020 it stood at 897 euros, last year the average salary was 1,367, and today the average salary of an assistant totals 1,389 euros.
“Even during the coronavirus crisis, when GDP fell by more than eight percent, when salaries in the private sector were falling and when there was no talk of inflation, salaries for Croatian teachers increased by two percent. If we now refer to the impact of inflation, according to available data, the cumulative inflation from 2019 to January was 28.1 percent, and the increase in Croatian teachers’ salaries in the same period was 67 percent. That proves that despite inflation, the increase in teachers’ salaries in the aforementioned period is still significant.
In addition, this month all employees were paid a three percent increase in salary, and their salaries will be increased by an additional three percent by the end of the year. In addition, negotiations with unions on an additional salary increase will begin again in three months,” the Ministry of Education revealed.
