The education strike continues. Education unions are organizing a major new protest in Bucharest on Tuesday, which they estimate will draw around 20,000 people.

Protesters will gather around 11:00 in Piața Victoriei, in front of the Government, from where they will leave around 15:00 for Kotroceni Palace.

On Monday, representatives of education unions held a series of negotiations with the ministers of labor and education, but did not find a solution to their demands.

They offered the Minister of Labor a new option for a salary increase by the end of the year, according to which the rating factor 1 will be multiplied by 3,000 lei, which is the minimum wage in the economy, and they said they were waiting for “a signal from the Government.”

The trade unions also said they would not abandon the protest march planned for Tuesday from Victory Square to the Cotroceni Palace and asked the Romanian president to hold a meeting with the leaders of the three trade union federations to mediate the conflict. which broke out between education workers and the Romanian government.

“We repeated today what we asked for, namely to find a solution in such a way that the salary increase will be given by the end of the year, and the main thing is to guarantee by a normative act that in the law on salary, a debut teacher will have a salary that is at least equal to the average gross wage in the economy, and as an option related to raising wages by the end of the year, I proposed to apply Article 12 of Law 153. In particular, the rating factor 1 should be multiplied by 3,000 lei, which is the minimum wage for the economy, and not 2500 like now. It remains for the Minister of Labor to present this proposal to the Prime Minister or those in the coalition and analyze it, but at the moment we do not have anything concrete. We are waiting for a signal from the Government as soon as possible. The decision is made in the coalition. It remains for the Minister of Labor to present to the coalition what we discussed today and to give an answer as soon as possible,” Simion, president of the Federation of Free Trade Unions in Education (FSLI), said on Monday. Hencescu, at the end of the discussion in the Ministry of Labor.

He clarified that some meetings regarding the grid from the new Uniform Salary Law have been agreed in the near future, but emphasized that people are waiting for “a regulatory act that establishes what we have presented to you.”

For his part, the president of the Federation of Education Trade Unions “Spiru Haret” Marius Nistor said that “at the moment there is no reason to abandon” the protest on Tuesday.

The unions want to talk to Yohannis

FSLI, the “Spiru Haret” Federation and the “Alma Mater” Federation want to meet with President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday. Three trade union federations submitted a document on this matter to the Presidential Administration and claim that they demanded such a meeting as early as May 10.

“We ask you to meet with the executive bodies of the three representative federations in education on May 30, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. We appeal – once again – to Your Majesty, as a mediator between the state and society, to receive real and immediate solutions for the education system from the Executive. Your Excellency, in order to have an EDUCATED ROMANIA, a significant investment in education and a motivated human resource is needed,” said the document published on Monday by FSLI, the Federation “Spiru Haret” and the Federation “Alma Mater” and quoted it. News.ro.

The document was submitted on Monday and registered in the Presidential Administration.

The Minister of Education does not rule out extending the school year if the teachers’ strike lasts longer

The Ministry of Education has a backup option for external examinations if the teachers’ strike continues. The solution, as Minister Ligia Deka said, will be the extension of the academic year.

“There is a decision, if this term is extended, we will also extend the school year. There is no such option that we do not finish the academic year in good conditions, do not finish the average indicators, do not pass the external examination. Everything will happen, even if it means extending the school year. My message to those protesting is to understand that we are making every effort and that the Ministry of Education supports them in demanding their rights to fair wages, but at the same time we must think about how we manage to ensure national examinations, the end of the situation in school and the right to education for all,” said the Minister of Education on Antena 1, when asked what the worst case scenario was in the event of a strike in education.