Croatian education strike starts Friday.
The strike in elementary and high schools, universities and scientific institutions will start on Friday, September 25, and will last until the strike committee makes a decision to stop it, said the leaders of trade unions at a press conference on Tuesday, reports Index.hr on September 22, 2105.
Talking about the failed negotiations with the government, president of the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education Vilim Ribić described them saying “we had been invited to dinner, but the bowl was empty”. They offered us to agree on how much the salaries should be increased and who should get them, which they would implement after the elections, he said.
He reminded everyone that prime minister Zoran Milanović three years ago claimed that education was the most important issue on the agenda, and now again before the new elections he promises that something will happen after the elections.
Arguments why the government cannot increase wages are that there is no money in the budget, and that they cannot decide about it because they are already virtually a caretaker government, said Ribić. However, the budget has been increased three billion kuna due to a slight growth in GDP, so clearly the money is not the problem, but the prime minister is. The claim that it is now too late for the decision does not stand as well, since the government did not want to meet with the unions as early as on August 28.
Caretaker government will take over when the president announces the date of the elections and that has not happened yet, and even a caretaker government can increase salaries. “We probably cannot continue with strike until Christmas. The prime minister has laws, the army and the police in his hands, but I would remind him that a victory is sometimes a defeat”, he added.
For university students there will be no exams, while for pupils in schools there will be no classes. “The strike is unavoidable and will last until the requirements are met or the caretaker government takes over. We will decide about it later, after an analysis of the legal situation. The unions have done their bit, and now it is the membership’s turn”, said Ribić.
President of the Independent Trade Union of Secondary Education Employees Branimir Mihalinec said that conciliation process failed because unions were not offered anything, except the promise that, after the re-election, they will again talk. Therefore, the conditions have been met for the strike to begin on Friday in all three systems – primary education, secondary and higher education, as well as in scientific institutions.
