European Trade Union Committee for Education

On 22 December 2014 four Serbian teacher unions organized an all-out one day strike in Belgrade and other cities in Serbia. The one-day strike was preceded by five weeks of action where classes were reduced from 45 to 30 minutes. This is the second wave of strike action by the Serbian teachers: In October 2014 more than 3000 Serbian teachers participated in a series of protest actions which also culminated with a one day strike on 22 October 2014.

The teacher unions are dissatisfied with the negotiation process of the Serbian government, the low status of the teaching profession and the wage level of teachers. Furthermore, the teacher unions call for starting the negotiations of the collective agreement in education as the current agreement terminates in the end of January 2015. According to Serbian ETUCE member organisation TUS, more than 1100 Serbian schools participated in the strike but the government does still not want to accept any of the potential solutions proposed by the teacher unions. Then as well as now, the ETUCE supports the Serbian teachers in their fight to raise the status of the teaching profession and to ensure quality education through decent salaries and working conditions.