The Latvian Education and Science Workers’ Union (LIZDA) will not cancel the decision on a three-day strike by pedagogues, even though the government will approve the Cabinet of Ministers’ (MK) regulations on Friday on increasing the salary of pedagogues and balancing the workload, LIZDA head Inga Vanaga has repeatedly announced.
The Latvian Education and Science Workers’ Union (LIZDA) will not cancel the decision on a three-day strike by pedagogues, even though the government will approve the Cabinet of Ministers’ (MK) regulations on Friday on increasing the salary of pedagogues and balancing the workload, LIZDA head Inga Vanaga has repeatedly announced.
Hawk sees inaccuracies in the new calculations of the Ministry of Education and Science, which the union leadership does not agree with. The documents do not include several demands, including more funding for the administration of educational institutions.
Vanaga criticized that the management of the Ministry of Education and Science had promised that the government would approve the salary increase schedule for pedagogues by March 14, which was not done and thus there was a reason to believe that the salary increase schedule for pedagogues had not been approved for any group of pedagogues, as well as teacher workload balancing plan for all teachers.
The government unanimously supported the salary increase schedule for teachers on Tuesday. The Minister of Education Anda Čakša (JV) and the lawyers of the ministry expressed the hope that by approving the regulations of the MK on increasing the salary of teachers and balancing the workload, the legal basis for holding a strike will disappear, as all strike agreements will be fulfilled.
The pedagogue salary schedule proposed by the Ministry of Education and Culture envisages an increase in the lowest wage rate for all groups of pedagogues from September 1 of this year. For teachers, with the exception of preschool teachers, the lowest hourly rate is EUR 8.50. It is planned that from January 1, 2024, the lowest hourly rate for teachers will be 9.54 euros, and from January 1, 2025 – 10.35 euros.
For preschool teachers, the lowest wage rate is planned to be 7.75 euros from September 1 of this year, and from January 1, 2024 – 9.04 euros, and from January 1, 2025 – 10.35 euros.
The schedule for the increase of the lowest monthly salary rate for academic staff is made, observing proportionally the same salary increase in the first two periods, as it is determined for other teachers, except preschool education teachers. As of September 1 of this year, the lowest monthly salary for professors will be 1,982 euros, for associate professors – 1,587 euros, for assistant professors – 1,270 euros, for lecturers – 1,017 euros, for assistants – 810 euros, while for the rest of the positions, the current proportion of remuneration will be maintained in the difference between positions.
In order to ensure the necessary funding from September to December, excluding the academic staff, 9,039,833 euros are needed, and in 2024 – 83,461,535 euros, and from 2025 – 138,455,012 euros annually.
The additional funding required to increase the lowest monthly salary rate for academic staff is 2,821,222 euros this year, and 16,870,574 euros in 2024, and 18,415,333 euros annually from 2025.
The board of LIZDA has decided to hold a protest action on April 24, as well as to start a three-day strike of pedagogues throughout Latvia. It is planned that 19,895 education workers will participate in the strike.
The union has expressed its readiness to pay the strikers funds from a special strike fund accumulated from members’ money. At the moment, it is not known how much it will cost the union, because not all of the strikers are members of LIZDA.
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