The Estonian Education Workers’ Union (EHL) on Tuesday, the 30th of January adopted a government proposal to allocate an additional 5.7 million euros to raise teachers’ salaries this year, ending the current week-long strike, reports Estonian ERR.
The Estonian teachers’ strike is over, EHL chief Reemo Voltri announced at a press conference alongside education minister Kristina Kallas, adding that schools will resume to normal from the 31st of January.
The minimum wage for general education teachers will rise to 1 820 euros.
It has also been agreed to start negotiations this year on raising the average salary of teachers over the next three years to 120% of the national average. Although the agreement is not perfect, it reflects teachers’ dedication to children and education, says Voltri.
According to the union leader, the EHL Council has carefully considered the offer and accepted the offer from both parties [SDE and Eesti 200] to end the strike and enter into long-term negotiations, but the union stresses that future negotiations must be meaningful and sufficiently funded, otherwise further action is possible.
Minister Kallas has said that formalising the new salary will take time, as changes will have to be made to the national budget through parliament, and teachers may not receive the new salary this month.
The funds will be allocated by cutting the budgets of the ministries led by the coalition partners SDE and Eesti 200, including education and science, economy and communications, social affairs and regional affairs.
The union initially demanded a minimum wage of 1 950 euros, but later compromised and reduced it to 1 836 euros.
The minimum salary for a full-time teacher in 2023 was 1 749 euros with a net salary of 1 400 euros.
Also read: Teachers’ strike begins in Estonia, with the teachers’ union head saying the strike could drag on
Follow us on Facebook and X!