Teachers suspend strike after four weeks of protests. The decision was taken after consulting the leaders of the trade union organizations FSLI and “Spiru Haret”.
According to the trade unionists, the decision is conditional on the introduction in the GEO, which will be approved today in the Government meeting, of the provisions related to the basic salary of the debutante teacher and the granting of the first installment of the salary increase from January 1, 2024.
“The Federation of Free Trade Unions in Education and The Federation of Trade Unions in Education “Spiru Haret”, following the consultation of the leaders of the affiliated trade union organizations, during the meetings of the Leaders’ Colleges of the two federations, took the decision to suspend the general strike, provided that the emergency ordinance to be approved in the Government meeting from today should contain:
-the principle according to which the basic salary of the beginning professor/university assistant will be set at the level of the average gross salary for the economy used to base the known state social insurance budget and which represents 23% of the maximum salary scale in the public system;
-the granting of the first salary increase installment (50% of the salary increase provided for by the new salary law) from 01.01.2024. In the situation where the principles contained in the emergency ordinance will not be applied in the text of the new salary law, the strike will be resumed”, according to a joint statement of the two unions.
The salary increase from January 1, 2024, requested by the teachers, is not in the draft emergency ordinance published by the Government, but only in the Background note. There is also a paragraph in the preamble of the GEO, about how the salaries should be from January 1, 2024, but this paragraph has no value in that place, according to the rules of legislative technique in force.
Regarding the emergency ordinance no. 53 of 2023, the promised increase of 25% represents, in fact, 300 lei gross for all teaching and auxiliary staff, according to the document. For comparison, here are the salary scales valid for May 2023.
The salaries of teachers and auxiliary teaching staff should increase from June 1 by 1,300 gross lei per position, according to the draft emergency ordinance put up for public debate after the Government made a new offer to trade unionists on Sunday. For non-teaching staff in the national education system, the planned increase is 400 lei gross.
The teachers requested the issuance of a normative act stipulating that from January 1, 2024, the debutant’s salary should be at the level of the average gross salary for the economy from the previous budget year. This measure, too is only written in the supporting note and in the preamble, given that the teachers requested from the beginning that this provision be found in the text of an ordinance.