April the 1st, 2025 – Croatian teachers are set to launch strikes yet again today after the powers that be failed to meet their previous demands. The strikes will be done in one-day cycles nationwide.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the first of the planned Croatian teachers strikes is scheduled for today (April the 1st) in Split-Dalmatia, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties. They will be followed by Croatian teachers going on strike in eastern Croatia on April the 3rd in Vukovar-Srijem, Brod-Posavina, Požega-Slavonia, Osijek-Baranja and Virovitica-Podravina counties.
On Monday, April the 7th, Croatian teachers will begin their strikes across western Croatia: Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Lika-Senj counties. On Wednesday, the strike will move up to northern Croatia, more specifically to Koprivnica-Križevci, Varaždin and Međimurje counties. The last of the five strike cycles is currently planned for April the 11th across central Croatia: Bjelovar-Bilogora, Sisak-Moslavina, Karlovac, Krapina-Zagorje and Zagreb counties, as well as here in the City of Zagreb.
The unions are demanding the same thing they demanded before the warning strike that took place back on March the 19th – a 10% increase in the base, a linear increase in coefficients (the introduction of a temporary salary supplement until the new coefficients). Education employees also asking for the exemption of employees in education and science from evaluation and the postponement of the reform of vocational schools.
“If the government fails yet again to respond to these one-day strikes, we intend to continue, we aren’t going to give up on our demands. Until something is agreed upon, this isn’t going to go away, there will be organised protests, strikes, and a combination of one and the other,” Matija Kroflin, general secretary of the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education, told 24sata.
“Only state secretaries participated in the reconciliation, not a single minister participated, which was also a kind of message. We must not falter. We must continue our struggle even more decisively. It’s important not only for the achievement of our current goals and demands, but also for the long-term negotiating position of the trade union,’ said the trade union.
They stated that almost 40,000 employees in education and science participated in the warning strike, but that the government still considers the position of educators to be good and exactly as it should be. “We’re therefore left with no choice, we need to continue with the strikes!” they have announced.
A circular strike allows for a constant presence in the public, they say, while at the same time minimising the negative impact on the teaching process. The Education Ministry previously told the unions that Croatian teachers going on strike was not necessary and that the unions had put forward demands to the government that were not legalistic.
