On Friday, as they came to the end of their third week on strike, thousands of Romanian teachers took part in a protest march in the country’s capital, Bucharest. On May 22, teachers went on strike for the first time since 2005. Since then, hundreds of people have staged protests across Romania, shouting “Dignity”, “We dare” and “We will not give in”. .
The unions have demanded an increase in teachers’ salaries of at least 25%, as well as investments to develop infrastructure and teaching supplies, and they have urged that the incomes of new teachers be raised to at least the level of the average national.
Currently, the net income of a new teacher in Romania is around 2,400 lei ($521.65) per month. This is just under half of the national average net monthly salary in Romania. However, the coalition government only authorized a decree to increase wages by 1,000 lei ($217.35) per month before tax, and it granted annual bonuses paid by the European Union.
Even though the country had previously pledged to increase spending to 6% of GDP for the education sector, the government has allocated just over 3% of GDP to this area this year. The unions involved said the strike would continue indefinitely. Parents and pupils have so far shown their support for the strike, despite the fact that its continuation could jeopardize the upcoming school leaving exams.
The government, which has seen its revenues underperform this year and is under pressure to reduce the budget deficit, has pledged to change its wage law for the entire public sector as part of a package of reforms agreed with the European Commission in exchange for stimulus money. The government is under pressure to reduce the budget deficit as it has seen its revenues underperform this year.
Health care workers and police also staged protests earlier this week over wages and investments, threatening to strike if their concerns were not addressed. If the public sector wage increase measure is passed, it will lead to gradual wage increases. However, the legislation will not come into force until next year, which is also the year Romania will hold general and presidential elections.
