ZAGREB, November 24, 2018 – The Preporod teachers’ union has called for an 18.9% pay increase. The teachers strike announced will take place on 28 November. The union said that the strike would last a long time and would grow in intensity.
During a union meeting on Saturday, the union’s leader, Željko Stipić, said that the strike was the only remaining instrument for the union to protect teachers’ rights. He did not specify how long the strike would last but said that the union was prepared for long-term pressure “from week to week and month to month.”
It is important that all public sector unions – in health, social welfare, culture, education – have announced that they will strike, Stipić said.
He added that the teachers’ union was demanding an 18.9% pay rise because their wages had been lagging behind for more than ten years.
According to estimates, wages should increase five or six percent next year, which means that if we were to accept an increase of 5.8% – which is what eight unions have demanded in talks with the government – our wages won’t be behind by 18.9% but 22-23%, he said.
There is more money in the budget than ever, 140 billion kuna, and it’s time to finally define a fair price of labour in the public sector, he added.
He recalled that the government had offered an increase of 3%, which the union considers to be an insult. The entire negotiation process was organised to present the unions with a fait accompli, he concluded, adding that the conciliation process was an “insulting farce.”
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