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President of the 'Spiru Haret' Education Unions Federation Marius Nistor said on Friday, after consultations with government representatives, that putting pressure on the protesters to give up the strike is not the correct way to go.
"No one is allowed to force someone to go on strike or to go out of strike. This is a constitutional right. It's a big mistake that only increases tension in education and I don't think this is opportune. (...) You should know that the protest actions are not only for salary increases. We are ultimately interested in total investments in the education system. Our desire is to quickly reach that 15 percent of the general consolidated budget, which expressed as a GDP percentage is almost the same thing. So, if we want to see that the pre-university and university education laws are really functional, we automatically need adequate funding. It is the maturity exam the political class will take in six months at the most," Nistor emphasized.
In his turn, Simion Hancescu, president of the Federation of Education Free Trade Unions, announced that the government of Romania on Friday made education unionists a new offer consisting of 1,500 RON payable annually in October, until 2027.
"We sat down with government representatives. Our demand was the one everyone knows, namely the full enforcement of the pay grid starting January 1, 2024. The government made it clear that it cannot offer this increase. The only thing it can do is to grant a 45 percent wage rise installment instead of the initially promised 40 percent, and an additional amount of 1,500 RON payable every year on October 5, until 2027. This is the government's offer. We will consult the people, because as we have always said: it's the people who started the strike, it's the people who decide whether it stops or not," Hancescu said.
The general teaching strike kicked off on May 22. AGERPRES
