WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
Choose language:
AUTHOR: M.J.
The main board of the Education Union (SPCG) has accepted an agreement with the Government on the increase of salaries for educators, after which the strike of educators will be stopped from tomorrow, announced the president of the SPCG Radomir Božović at a press conference.
The strike committee has decided to end the strike and to return to classes from tomorrow - said Božović.
According to the agreement, teachers' salaries will be increased by ten percent gross from July 1, while from the beginning of the school year, the cumulative increase will amount to at least 17 percent net.
Božović pointed out that, after the session of the Main Board, they decided to accept the agreement in an electronic session. Of the 46 members of the Main Board, 43 voted for, two against and one abstained.
He emphasized that they are not satisfied with the offer.
We had an unequal fight in the previous period. For the first time, I felt on my own skin what it's like to fight with the system and the state - underlined the president of the Education Union.
He added that they faced a lot of pressure, especially from the principals of certain schools who, as he said, "will be the first in line to receive their salary."
I can't say that we came out as winners, but we didn't come out as losers either. In the coming period, the union will turn to other activities, and our mission is to make our system better and the teaching staff to be satisfied - said Božović.
He pointed out that this is a proposal for an agreement, and that he will sign the agreement in the next few days.
Speaking about the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation against the Education Union for organizing the strike, Božović said that it would be "gentlemanly for the Ministry to withdraw the lawsuit."
I think it would be gentlemanly for us to withdraw the lawsuits we announced before the court and the Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Disputes, and it will be gentlemanly for the ministry to withdraw the lawsuit before the court to determine the legality of the strike. We expect the ministry to submit a proposal to the Agency in the coming days for the adoption of an act on the minimum work process in preschool and primary education - Božović says.
We remind you that at last night's meeting, Spajić proposed that salaries in education be increased by 10 percent from the first of July, and another seven percent from September and the beginning of the new school year.
According to the Branch Collective Agreement, teachers' wages should have been increased by ten percent from January. As the Government did not prescribe this increase in the budget, the labor organization demanded that they do so and threatened a strike. They gave the Government a deadline to reach an agreement by the end of January, but the negotiations dragged on.
On Monday, trade unionists organized a strike in schools and kindergartens and announced that they would end it once they reached a compromise with the government.
In the meantime, the relevant Ministry sued the Union, claiming that the strike was organized illegally, and professors who are on strike and do not teach regularly have been informed that they may lose their jobs. However, the Education Union announced that the minister told them last night during the conversation that the professors will not be sanctioned, and that they will also withdraw the lawsuit, all in accordance with the compromise reached.
