European Trade Union Committee for Education

The 2018/19 academic year begins tensely in Latvia. Last week, the Latvian Educational and Scientific Workers’ Trade union (LIZDA), ETUCE member organisation in Latvia, reported a reluctance of its government to fully implement the provisions of the Education Law and the Teachers’ Salary Increase Schedule.

By signing the agreement stipulating monthly increase in education personnel’s salary in accordance with the Teachers’ Salary Increase Schedule on 9 January 2018, the Latvian government made an explicit commitment to implement and respect its provisions.

In light of the upcoming negotiations between the Latvian education social partners, ETUCE unequivocally supported LIZDA’s demands and called on the Latvian government to comply with the provisions of the agreement which more specifically determines an increase in education personnel’s salaries equivalent to 710 Euro by 1 September 2018.

Susan Flocken, ETUCE European Director stated, “the provision of high quality education cannot fall solely under the responsibility of a single teacher nor a single education institution. It is a process implying the cooperation among all the actors in education, in particular the social dialogue among and with the education social partners”.

Should a consensus not be reached by 31 August 2018, LIZDA has warned the government officials about a picket outside the Latvian parliament building on 18 September 2018.

ETUCE continues monitoring the situation.