After several weeks of failed attempts to have terms of employment reflect teachers’ heavy workloads, the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science have finally come to a compromise with the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Workers. This agreement introduces a series of improvements to the working conditions of teachers and other education personnel which include establishing a minimum salary of 1080 euros and introducing a 36-hour working week that defines 65% of this time as contact hours while the rest are to be allocated to other dimensions of the profession.
After the reconciliation commission from 20 August to 7 September2022 concluding its work unsuccessfully, the LIZDA Council had made the decision to launch an open-ended strike to counter the latest government offer, a proposal that the union perceived as an attempt to split education workers by addressing a limited number of issues.
Factually speaking, LIZDA had been calling for teachers’ salaries to fully reflect all their working time. Additionally, they had called for the fulfillment of the Education Law, which stipulates that the monthly salary of a teacher shall not be lower than the monthly salary approved by the Cabinet in the relevant time period. LIZDA had also pointed out that it is the responsibility of politicians to implement the provisions of laws, cabinet decisions, and policy planning documents in a timely manner.
LIZDA President, Inga Vanaga, had previously declared that “the deepest reason to carry on with the strike resides in the desire of educators for justice, quality, and an increased availability of education services in the country”. “The strike is also about our future,” she had added, so that “all pupils and students have educators in each subject”, which is something that LIZDA considers an “essential element to allow personal growth.”
As had been stated in its letter published on the 30 August 2022, the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) had expressed its unequivocal solidarity with its member organisation, LIZDA, and showed robust support to the planned strike. The announcement of a compromise which considers the needs of every educational worker not only helps to facilitate the realisation of the right to quality education but is also a crucial step towards better recognition of the teaching profession.
With over 60 million Euros allocated to undertake these objectives, ETUCE would like to congratulate LIZDA on its determination in fighting for changes and improvements in education and reaffirm its support to all of those who contribute to the revaluation of the teaching profession.
On 16 May, more than two thousand teachers and other education personnel from across Latvia gathered in front of the building of Saeima of the Republic of Latvia in a picket organised by LIZDA. The picketers were holding bells and alarm clocks,...
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