Several hundred employees from the education system took to the streets on April 8 to demand decent remuneration. The teachers sought salaries by 50% higher and concessions for young specialists. Members of the Education and Science Trade Union announced that they will picket the Government Building daily, between 10am and 12 midday, until April 10, IPN reports.
The protester requested setting up a governmental commission for negotiating their demands. Besides higher salaries, they also ask increasing the bonus for scientific degrees by 1,000-1,500 lei and the scholarships for all the categories of young people, starting with January 1, 2014.
Dumitru Ivanov, head of the Education and Science Trade Union, said they haven’t yet reached a compromise with the authorities. The Government proposed increasing teachers’ pays by 20%.
The teachers who came to the Great National Assembly Square said they want to remain in the country and to raise their children at home. But the unsafe system makes some of them leave their families and go abroad to look for a job. “One cannot demand that teachers come before the students and speak about general human values to them when they are in this struggle for existence,” said Zinaida Condrea, teacher of the Chisinau Theoretical Lyceum “Ion Inculet”.
The organizers said the protest involved about 500 teachers from all over the country, but the teaching process wasn’t suspended. All the classes were taught.
After the protest, the Ministry of Education issued a communiqué, saying the Government will continue the negotiations with representatives Education and Science Trade Union so as to consider the real possibilities of raising the pays. “The Government will fulfill its promise to increase the salaries of teachers from September 1, 2014, as provided by the law. Currently, we discuss the size of this raise, which depends on the available resources,” said Minister of Education Maia Sandu.
The protesters warned that if the authorities ignore their demands, they will go on a general strike in May.
