General strike in Romanian schools, first in 18 years
Education unions are initiating a general strike in schools on Monday, May 22, after Sunday's negotiations with the Government failed to reach any agreement. Union representatives state that the general strike in education will continue until they receive a "credible solution" from the Government regarding salary demands, according to HotNews.ro.
The strike began this Monday morning in all schools in Romania where there are union members. It is the third large-scale strike in the last 30 years, with the others taking place over 5 weeks and 3 weeks respectively.
Education unions announced on Sunday, after negotiations at the Victoria Palace with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu and several ministers, that the education strike will start on Monday and its duration will depend strictly on the response the government will give further on. Union leaders said that the offer put forward by the Executive at the negotiations was "the one we had a few days ago, nothing more".
Asked on Sunday evening, in a broadcast on B1 TV, what are the salaries of education employees, the president of the Federation of Education Trade Unions "Spiru Haret", Marius Nistor, gave concrete examples: at most 2,000 lei for non-teaching staff (cleaners, cooks, nurses, fochiști), 2. 580 lei for a beginning teacher, to which is added the food allowance, reaching about 2,700 lei, almost 3,800 lei for a first grade teacher with 25 years' seniority and 4,200 - 4,500 lei net for a teacher at the end of his career.
Now the unionists want a beginning teacher to get 4,000 lei and a late-career teacher to get 7,000 lei in hand.
