With municipalities slow to reform their school networks, teachers employed there will have to deal with lower wages, said Minister of Environment Protection and Regional Development Māris Sprindžuks in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on Friday, the 17th of February.
Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees (LIZDA), having received no clear promise from the government or Ministry of Education and Science in regards to any commitment to fulfilling the promises given to teachers not that long ago to raise their wages and balance workloads, has decided to give the government time until the 15th of March.
If the government fails to comply with the trade union’s demands,
there will be a new strike organised on the 24th of April.
«The point of the dispute, I believe, is that the more the schools are fulled, the more students there are in each class, and the more teachers will be paid for the same amount of work,» said the minister in regards to the existing situation.
«This is where we see an ironic situation – the longer municipalities delay with sorting their school networks, the lower teachers’ wages will be. It is important for both sides – municipalities’ or regions’ plans to go in line with the municipality’s policy,» he continued.
As previously reported, Latvia’s Ministry of Education and Science Anda Čakša said during a meeting with LIZDA on Wednesday, the 15th of February, that the money provided by the government to increase teachers’ wages are used inefficiently, and that this problem needs to be resolved. Čakša reminded that many municipalities in Latvia have a disorganised school network, and not all of them use the money to increase teachers’ wages. The additional resources provided to municipalities are used on rooms and equipment, not what is more important – human resources.
The minister also said that the GDP portion diverted towards education and the funding from the budget are similar to those allocated in many European countries. The minister explained the funding is provided under a quorum, whereas the problem is how this money is used.
The existing school network is unable to follow demographic changes.
Also read: PM: injecting more and more money into teachers’ wages is not a sustainable solution