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Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă declared on Friday morning that in the context of the strike in education, after the discussions in the Coalition, it was decided not to submit his mandate and to remain prime minister until the problems in education are resolved.
“The government that I lead has a consolidated political and parliamentary support, we are here in front of you, with the president of the PSD and the president of the UDMR, we all agreed that the only chance for us to overcome all these problems is to create a stable coalition . What we achieved. Through this political stability we were also able to manage the energy crisis, to ensure the consequences of the war in Ukraine and to manage the effects of inflation. (…) Today, I should have submitted my mandate in conditions where the situation was maintained at a certain balance. Bearing in mind that as we have found solutions so far, we have not backed down from responsibility, after the discussions in the coalition we decided to continue the dialogue with the unions in education, to maintain this dialogue in order to find solutions to their legitimate problems and to make it based on understanding and reason with them to find solutions, but they cannot be solved by a single decision,” Ciuca argued.
“The future of the country must have predictability. All are done not only by allocating resources, but by ensuring a better and more complex framework regarding the endowment of the education system and the specialization of all teaching staff. At this moment we cannot afford to unbalance the budget through a one-way measure. We will continue to maintain the dialogue with the unions, we have presented them with all the data honestly and realistically. We hope that through dialogue we can reach a solution. We talked until late last night, we met again this morning. I have agreed that until these issues are resolved, I will not submit my mandate to assume the responsibility of the position of prime minister. I hope that in the shortest period of time we can implement the bypass plan at the coalition level,” the PM added.
Ciucă made this announcement at the government, together with coalition leaders Marcel Ciolacu and Kelemen Hunor.
“I believe that the decision taken by the three of us is a correct one, we assume it together, together we will continue to solve this categorically legitimate problem as quickly as possibleWe have to have the balance to find the most favorable moments and together we have assumed that the number 1 priority is the teachers and the health systemI think it’s the right decision. Together we will find the best calendar for the government ring road,” said in his turn PSD chairman Marcel Ciolacu.
UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor also said: “I am convinced that there is a need for predictability, there is a need for responsibility and there is a need to strengthen trust in society. During this period we had many fires – with one hand we put out the fires, with the other hand we built, because that is the purpose of government. The problems in the education system are known to the government and to this coalition, they can be solved. The solution is in the hands of the Government, in the hands of the Parliament and the solution must be a phased one, but yes, we need quality education, just as we need quality public services for every person, for every community and we will manage to solve them, so as we have managed so far in 2020 and then in 2021. Last night we decided together to continue in this formula, with Nicolae Ciucă as prime minister, and to respond as society wants and as we assumed in the government program.”
Education unions raise the stake, ask for 25% pay rises, up from 15%
The last request of the education unions – made on Wednesday – was to increase salaries by 25%, which would mean a budget impact of 8 billion lei. Initially, they had asked for 15%, with a budget impact of 3.6 billion lei, according to official sources, who say that the Government will maintain its decision to increase their salaries only through the new salary law.
So far, the government has not accepted.
The last offer made to education unions by the government was to grant 2,500 lei per card, money to be given in two installments – half in June and half in October. The money is from PNRR funds and should be used for the teaching career. The offer was rejected by the unions, who demanded a 25% wage increase.
More than 150,000 teaching staff and more than 70,000 employees in the category of teaching auxiliary and non-teaching staff have been on general strike since Monday, May 22.
More than 10,000 teaching staff also protested on Thursday in Bucharest, initially in Victoriei Square (in front of the Government building), from where they marched to the Parliament, on the fourth day of the general strike.
In front of the Government, the union leaders announced that they reject the Executive’s offer, which they consider offensive, saying that the teachers do not need vouchers, but decent salaries, so the general strike continues, as do the street protests. They also talk about the danger of changing the calendar of national exams.
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