The government will approve, on Monday, the emergency ordinances regarding the salary increases for the staff in Education, prime minister Nicolae Ciuca declared, at the beginning of the Executive sitting, after the announcement of the education unions that they will suspend the strike.
"In full dialogue with the unions, the teachers' representatives, with the parents' representatives, with the students' representatives, we considered it absolutely necessary to end this labour conflict and to ensure (...) the solution by which we can end the school year, to carry out the National Assessment and, of course, carry out the Baccalaureate exam. As such, we will adopt the emergency ordinance, in fact there are two emergency ordinances, because one aims at ensuring salary increases from the state budget and of course ensuring the necessary funds for training professional, money that will be on the lines of European financing," Nicolae Ciuca assessed.
In the context, he emphasized that the coalition government has ensured starting from the end of 2021, for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, a funding of 8 billion RON, compared to the funding due for 2021-2022.
"And, of course, to these are added the sums of money that we are allocating through this emergency ordinance, of approximately 3 billion RON," Ciuca stressed.
At the same time, he pointed out the investments in the education infrastructure.
"I also want to emphasize that in this financing picture we must remember that it is not only the salary part that matters, but also the investments we make in education matter. It is money that is allocated for the development of the infrastructure of the entire education system. We have included all these elements in the new Education laws. To all of these we must emphasize the allocation of approximately 3.6 billion euros, money through the PNRR, which comes precisely to complete the effort made at the level of the state budget," the premier added.
The Federation of Free Trade Unions in Education and the Spiru Haret Federation of Trade Unions in Education have decided to suspend the general strike.
The decision is conditioned by the establishment, in the emergency ordinance to be approved in the Government meeting on Monday, of the principle according to which the basic salary of the debutant teacher/university assistant will be set at the level of the average gross salary in the economy used to substantiate the known state social insurance budget and which represent 23 pct of the maximum salary scale in the public system and the granting of the first salary increase installment (50 pct of the salary increase provided for by the new salary law) from January 1, 2024, it is mentioned in a joint press release of the two trade union federations.
The trade unionists warn that if the principles contained in the Emergency Ordinance are not applied in the text of the new salary law, the strike will be resumed.
On Sunday, draft emergency ordinances initiated by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Investment and European Funds were made transparent.
The draft piece of legislation put up for debate by the Ministry of Labour stipulates that, starting from 1 June 2023, the basic salaries of teaching staff and auxiliary teaching staff in pre-university education units and higher education institutions will be increased by 1,300 RON gross per position.
Moreover, the salaries of the auxiliary teaching staff in university libraries, as well as for the other categories of positions included in the annexes to the Framework Law no. 153/2017 on the salaries of staff paid from public funds, as amended and supplemented, and who are auxiliary teaching staff, according to the National Education Law 1/2011, as amended and supplemented, and who work in the national education system, are increased by the same amount.
As regards the salaries of non-teaching staff in pre-university education units and higher education institutions, they increase by 400 lei gross per position.
The draft initiated by MIPE provides for a bonus of 1,500 RON for teachers and 500 RON for non-teaching staff until 2027, on 5 October, which is International Education Day.
The general strike in education was launched on 22 May 2023.AGERPRES
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