The Government is trying hard to satisfy the education trade unions’ demand to raise salaries. Increasing the salaries of non-teaching and auxiliary personnel by 10% is an intermediary result agreed, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said in reaction to the protest mounted by teachers on April 5, IPN reports.

“This is the financial capacity of the Republic of Moldova at present. I don’t know why the trade unions decided to protest without preventing us. We are open to dialogue with the protesters,” stated the Premier.

Pavel Filip noted that raising the salaries of all the budget-funded employees is the Government’s preoccupation. He asked for a balance in the formulated demands. “I want to tell trade union leaders that I’m ready to change the salary of Prime Minister for the salary of a trade union leader. Everyone deserves decent salaries, including those from medicine, culture and social assistance. What the Government does is aimed at ensuring citizens’ welfare,” he stated.

The Prime Minister called on education trade union leaders to be more flexible and contribute to the identification of financial resources for increasing teachers’ salaries by dialog. “You will get nothing with blackmail,” he noted.

Teachers from all over the country mounted a protest in Chisinau on April 5. According to trade union leaders, about 10,000 teachers came together in the central square of Chisinau. These said they are ready to block the teaching process before the final exams if the Government does not accept to increase their salaries by at least 30%. At the previous protests, the trade unions demanded that the salaries of education system employees should be raised by at least 50%.