Many schools in Romania will not open their classrooms to students on Monday
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 on Monday morning in all schools in Romania where union members exist. This is the third large-scale strike in the past 30 years, with the previous ones lasting for 5 weeks and 3 weeks, respectively.
Education unions announced on Sunday, following negotiations at the Victoria Palace with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu, and several ministers, that the strike in education will commence on Monday, and its duration will depend strictly on the Government's response going forward. Union leaders stated that the offer put forward by the Executive during negotiations was "the same one we had a few days ago, nothing more."
When asked on Sunday evening during a B1 TV show about the salaries of education employees, Marius Nistor, the president of the "Spiru Haret" Federation of Education Unions, provided concrete examples: a maximum of 2,000 lei for non-teaching staff (caretakers, cooks, nurses, stokers), 2,580 lei for a starting teacher's salary, which, with the food allowance, amounts to approximately 2,700 lei, nearly 3,800 lei for a teacher with the didactic degree I and 25 years of experience, and 4,200 - 4,500 lei net for a teacher at the end of their career.
Currently, the union representatives aim for a starting teacher to have a salary of 4,000 lei, while a teacher at the end of their career should receive 7,000 lei in hand."
