TEACHERS and other education employees are to organise a one-day strike on September 13 which will take place in front of the Government Office in Bratislava. The demonstration will be held exactly one year after the first demonstration in which trade unions sought higher salaries, the TASR newswire reported on August 27.
“Both teachers and non-teaching staff should not carry out their work for their employers,” said Pavel Ondek, head of the trade unions, as quoted by TASR, adding that all parents will be notified about whether their children’s schools are joining the protest or not.
The trade unions agreed to organise the strike after a meeting at which they discussed the budget for the Education Ministry for 2013. The Finance Ministry has allocated €2.45 billion to the department, €16.6 million more than in 2012. However, the trade unions predict that this will still result in a salary cut for all categories of employees, Ondek said.
The trade unions are demanding that the salaries of teaching personnel be increased to between to 1.2 and 2 times the current average salary, which currently stands at about €770 a month, TASR reported.