The teachers have announced that a march will be staged in central Chisinau on April 5 and traffic will be blocked in the period. Teachers’ demands are the same – to increase their salaries by 50% as of January 1 this year. The march will start in the square of the Academy of Sciences and will go along Stefan cel Mare Blvd towards the Government Building. The decision was taken in the March 29 plenary meeting of the Federation of Education and Science Trade Unions, IPN reports.

“We decided together to mount protests. Our further activity depends on us. The April 5 event must be massive so that we achieve results. If we are less than 10,000, it will be an insignificant march and those who are in power will not hear us,” stated Mihai Paladi, leader of the Straseni local organization of the Federation of Education and Science Trade Unions.

Head of the Chisinau trade union organization Maria Sarbu said that if the authorities do not satisfy the demand to increase teachers’ pays, the teaching process will be suspended. “We want decent living conditions and a higher salary. We are angry with the government. We gave it two months to decide and we are now offered a rise of 100 lei,” she stated.

Chairman of the Federation of Education and Science Trade Unions Dumitru Ivanov said that discussions with representatives of the government were scheduled for April 3, but this does not mean that the teachers will give up mounting protests. “If the teachers want not to go to classes, they can do it. The halt in the education process is an extreme measure that the Government forces us to take,” stated Ivanov.

The teachers have mounted several protests so far. Recently, the Government decided to increase the salaries of employees of pre-university, higher and post-university education institutions as of May 1, but the teachers do not agree with the announced rise. Currently, a young specialist has a salary of 1,900 lei, while the experienced teachers get up to 4,000 lei.