The Slovak Education and Science Workers Trade Union (OZ PSaV) said on June 22 that it would push for improved teachers’ pay to be included in the new government manifesto. Its demands would cost an estimated €230 million.
OZ PSaV chairman Ján Gasperan told the TASR newswire that the union would relay its request in a letter to all the potential coalition parties, which themselves proposed 250 education-related measures in their election manifestos. Among the substantial changes that the unionists are pressing for is an increase in funding for education, science and research in order to increase it to at least 6 percent of GDP during the term of the new parliament.
The union wants the new government to ensure that salaries in education reach at least the national average, said Gasperan, adding that the average salary in the education sector is now some €643 per month – around €100 below the national average salary. "University lecturers should earn at least twice the national average salary," he added.
One of the tasks that the next government will have to address is how to implement measures to improve financing in the education system in a way that should also result in teachers' salaries going up, according to newly-elected Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-SDKÚ lawmaker Miroslav Beblavý. However, Beblavý said that the demands recently presented by the trade unions – including allocating at least 6 percent of GDP (currently it is less than 5 percent) for education, and ensuring that teachers' salaries climb to at least 1.2-fold the average wage in Slovakia – are not likely to be met fully.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
