Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Workers (LIZDA) sees an attempt by Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) to push a new reform using wage increase, which is something the trade union is against, says LIZDA chairperson Inga Vanaga.
IZM parliamentary secretary Kārlis Strautiņš affirmed in a discussion with LIZDA that the ministry’s vision is ideologically similar to the trade union’s vision. However, the shortage of time and technical problems make it difficult to keep promises.
According to Strautiņš, IZM is in agreement with the trade union that it is necessary to raise teachers’ wages to resolve the problem of shortage of teachers and raise the profession’s prestige. The ministry agrees it is necessary to raise the overall welfare of education workers in order to promote the sector’s growth. The first step is raising teachers’ lowest hourly rate from the existing EUR 7.50 to EUR 8.50 before taxes.
LIZDA management stresses that IZM’s offer to look for funding to afford optimisation of the school network and raise minimal hourly rate, not the cost per student, is a radically new approach and a new reform suggestion. The trade union and the sector it represents do not accept it.
«The agreement reached to prevent the strike did not allow for any new reforms. The agreement was about something completely different. We still insist on the government fulfilling their promises.
We request the government to divert appropriate funding for the plan to increase wages,» said Vanaga.
According to the ministry’s current offer, teachers in 23 Latvian municipalities that are already paid an hourly rate higher than EUR 8.50 will not receive any addition to their wages. LIZDA opposes this and stresses the trade union cannot agree to this.
The head of Latvian Association of Education Leaders (LIVA) Rūdolfs Kalvāns agrees with LIZDA’s position.
«If we are told the minimal hourly rate will be EUR 8.50 from now on, then the question is – what will happen with schools in which teachers are already paid EUR 10.50 and EUR 11.50?
What about these schools? These are organised, prestigious and efficient schools. Will they be left out?» he asked.
Describing the goal of the discussion, LIZDA manager Vanaga stressed it is necessary to look for proposals everyone can agree on to «put an end to the legal nihilism in the country’. On the 24th of April teachers plan to hold a protest procession. One of the objectives of this protest is demanding responsibility from politicians about their work and demand them to follow the law and ‘look at the sector with respect».
To outline the problem with compliance with the law on a national level, participants of the discussion agreed that this topic will need to be discussed in Saeima’s Education, Culture and Science Committee, as well as other institutions. At the end of the discussion it was decided to compile all proposals and prepare a memorandum to be submitted for signing to officials and parties after the protest of the 24th of April.
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