61 per cent of teachers on strike

Bulgarian teachers kept their pledge and went on strike Monday after the Government and the trade unions failed to reach an agreement on the salaries in the sector last week. Teachers insist on a 100 percent increase of salaries and their demand was defined as unrealistic by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev in the context of the Bulgarian economy. Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski wanted that such demands could have an inflationary effect.

According to figures of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (one of the most influential trade unions), 61 percent of this country’s schools and kindergartens have joined the strike. The highest number of protesting teachers, 90 percent, is reported in Bourgas. Seventy percent of Sofia teachers have joined the protest. A lockout has been organized in some schools in Kurdjali, Montana and Zlatograd but the trade unions declared this as unlawful.

The demand for a 100 percent increase of teachers’ wages is absolutely unrealistic within the Bulgarian economy, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said on Monday. If larger funds are allocated for education this would imply less money for other sectors, Stanishev also said. "We have never denied to enter a dialogue but we would not act under an ultimatum."

Stanishev recalled that far before the first school day the Government proposed a whole package of measures to modernize the educational system in the next two years, on introducing a second and a third pillar of differentiated payment and on wage increase, exceeding inflation.

"I do not dispute anyone’s right to protest given that it is within the law but these actions do not change anything," said Education Minister Daniel Vulchev. "I have been ordered by the Prime Minister to make detailed calculations but this could not be done within a week or two," he added. Funds could be saved within the system but there could be clarity about the concrete figures by the end of September at the earliest, Vulchev also stated.

"The policy of incomes is not only a fiscal issue but also an issue of a level of incomes, inflation, exchange rates and they should be considered together," Finance Minister Oresharski said commenting on teachers’ demands. In his view economy reacts to any non-complied increase of incomes and the inflationary rate of the recent months has proved this.

BTA