Prague, Feb 28 (CTK) – The Czech education trade union started yesterday the second stage of its End of Cheap Teachers campaign they launched last year, insisting on a considerable rise in the salaries of teachers as well as non-teaching employees in the education, its representatives have told journalists.
They will specify their demands after a statistical report on average salaries in the Czech Republic is published.
The trade union deputy chairwoman, Marketa Seidlova, said after the data were released by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU), the trade union experts would calculate what they want to achieve for next year.
Last year, they demanded at least 10 percent more. They actually received 8 percent, but since last September already, thanks to which their demands were practically met.
According to last year’s calculations, the teachers’ average salary is now 30,515 crowns a month.
Chairman of the education trade union Frantisek Dobsik said the trade union had a good negotiating position.
Education Minister Katerina Valachova (Social Democrats, CSSD) has promised to increase teachers’ pay to 130 percent of the average salary in the Czech Republic, about 40,000 crowns, by 2020.
“This will depend on the Finance Ministry or the government as a whole,” Dobsik said.
For the spring, Valachova is planning a wholesome increase in the volume of the money to be spent on education.
In the kindergartens, elementary, secondary and other second-level educational facilities, there are over 153,000 teachers.
With their earnings, Czech teachers have been constantly under the OECD average.
The average of the 24 OECD countries is the equivalent of 67,000-77,500 crowns a month. From the Czech Republic’s neighbours, the teachers in Germany and Poland are better off, while those in Slovakia earn less.
($1=25.522 crowns)
