European Trade Union Committee for Education

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On 11 December 2018, teachers and other education personnel in Serbia took to the streets of Belgrade.

The Teacher Union of Serbia (TUS) reports that the one-day strike action under the motto “Why devalue education?” was staged by education trade unions, including NTTU and TUS, ETUCE affiliates in the country.

“Teachers and other education personnel are expressing their great dissatisfaction and discontent with the announced increase of salaries by 9% instead of the promised 14.67% - the reason of the last strike suspension. Furthermore, the allocation of only 7% of pay rise for teachers in preschool education implies a discriminative approach in education”, explained TUS.

The education trade unions in Serbia demand the continuation of the Government’s work on the Law on Salaries in the public sector, the implementation of which was put on hold in default of IMF’s approval and the commencement of negotiations on Collective Agreement for Elementary and Secondary Schools along with the eventual signing  of the Collective Agreement in Higher Education following three years of negotiations.

Fully supporting teachers and other education personnel in Serbia, ETUCE European Director, Susan Flocken, said: “Together with its member organisations in the country, ETUCE calls on the Serbian Government to heed the unions’ demands and involve education social partners in all matters related to them”.

ETUCE continuous monitoring the situation.