03 novembre 2007
Krum Krumov: In the name of the Bulgarian children we decided to end the strike as of November 5th
| 2 November 2007 | 17:10 | FOCUS News Agency |
 |
|
Sofia. The leaderships of the three trade unions of the Bulgarian teachers along with 90% of the votes of the representatives of the regional educational structures have decided to end the strike of the teachers in Bulgaria on November 5th. This was announced during a news conference in the office of the Confederation of Labor ‘Podkrepa’, attended by the leaders of the three Trade Unions of the teachers in Bulgaria – Asparuh Tomov (Independent Trade Union of the Teachers), Krum Krumov (Trade Union ‘Education’ of the Conferedation of Labor Podkrepa) and Yanka Takeva (Trade Union of the Bulgarian Teachers), a reporter of FOCUS News Agency informed. |
Numbers games in Bulgaria
On October 31, the Government sent to Parliament the issue of the teachers’ strike that has endured since September 15.
On that day, the draft Budget 2008 was sent to MPs for debate and a decision on approval. Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski told commercial national bTV the same day that “now it is up to MPs to take care of teachers’ demands for increased salaries”. This carefully played move by the Government added to an already complex and controversial situation for the teachers on strike. After more than a month of protests and a series of public rallies, the strike seemed to become ever more fragmented, with little chance of success in getting more money from the Government, and a number of teachers and schools deciding to return to work. Parents frustrated and paying out of pocket because of having to find ways to look after their children also seemed to be losing sympathy with the strikers.
A key event in changing the public mood towards teachers was the “almost signed agreement” on October 29.
When teachers went on strike on September 15, their main demand was for a 100 per cent salary increase. It took teachers’ union representatives and Education Minister Daniel Vulchev, supported by Oresharski, several weeks to agree that a 100 per cent increase was an unreasonable demand that could threaten the country’s financial stability despite the 3.5 billion leva budget surplus. In the fourth week of October, after almost daily meetings and negotiations between teachers’ trade unions and Vulchev, it seemed that the two sides had reached a compromise.
On October 26, a day before the municipal elections, the Education Ministry put on its website a “provisional agreement” with the trade unions. The ministry said that the unions had accepted the agreement and it seemed it was only a matter of time before it would be signed. The 15-point draft agreement provided for an 80 leva increase of teachers’ salaries to 524 leva as of October 1. The monthly pay of the non-teaching staff was agreed to be 283 leva. These packages did not include pay differentials and extra monthly salaries. Between January 1 and July 1 2008, the average teacher’s gross salary was to reach 650 leva, and the starting teachers’ pay was to be increased from 299 leva now to 450 leva. This meant that the highest salary for a teacher in July 2008 could be 785 leva.
Other points in the draft addressed schools’ delegated budgets, private lessons and matriculation exams.
Trade unions said they would request a mandate from teachers to sign a final agreement that would end the strike. The agreement was to be put to a vote in every school around the country on October 29, and the notion spread by Vulchev and trade union leaders was that it would be accepted and children would be back to school on October 30. Such a vote did happen. But as the municipal elections produced results other than those predicted, so did the voting on the agreement. At a news conference on October 29, teachers’ trade unions said that the majority of teachers had rejected the proposed agreement. A total of 55 per cent of the teachers have voted against the agreement, trade unions said, which meant that they would agree with the majority. Some controversy arose from the way trade unions had come up with the results of the voting, since they themselves admitted that there had been a problem with the data processing. It turned out that they could not tell whether the 55 per cent meant teachers as individuals or teaching staff of a certain school. The message at the end was that the agreement was rejected and the strike would continue. Vulchev immediately expressed his “astonishment at the teachers’ behaviour”, apparently forgetting that the agreement had the word “provisional” in its title. His reaction added to the feeling that teachers were inconsistent in their demands. The Government’s game of cat and mouse has paid off.
However, some of the reasons cited by teachers showed that their disagreement was not without reasonable grounds. What teachers actually disliked was that the agreement did not provide for the desired increase of the funds spent on education in 2008. Teachers wanted 4.7 per cent of GDP to be allocated for education in 2008 while Vulchev and Oresharshki offered 4.2 per cent of GDP. Another complaint was that the salary increase written in the agreement was in leva but not in per cent, which given inflation most certainly would mean that the increase would have no effect. Teachers also disagreed with the idea of reforms in Bulgaria’s secondary education, more precisely the idea that school headmasters would have delegated budgets to use as they choose, as opposed to the current situation when the money for each school comes from the municipality. The ministry said that every headmaster would be able to plan a budget and eventually save funds that could go for further increases of teachers’ salaries. According to the trade unions, the delegated budgets would mean that schools would be left on their own and there would be no money for any kind of increase and even this idea might lead to headmaster firing staff to stay within the budget and cover expenses.
On October 30, trade unions presented the ministry with their own draft agreement. It said that the average gross monthly salary in secondary education should be increased twice in 2008 – in January and July – so as to reach the target figure of 650 leva. This monthly wage had to be ensured by the unified standard of cost per student, the application of delegated school budgets, the standards for teachers’ workload and the average figures for numbers of students per class. Trade unions insisted on a starting teachers’ salary of no less than 508 leva as of July 2008. In the previous draft agreement this figure was 450 leva. According to the trade unions, the unified standard of cost per student should be increased as of January 2008 from the current 993 leva to no less than 1151 leva, and to no less than 1381 leva as of July 2008. The funds for this increase must come from the 2008 budget, trade unions said. Vulchev’s reply was simple. “The Government is prepared to continue talks to find a solution to the strike after the proposed agreement is discussed at the November 1 Cabinet meeting.”
The sending of the draft budget to Parliament, however, meant that there was little if any chance that the teachers would succeed. The ruling majority has backed Vulchev consistently so far, making it unlikely that the budget would be revised. This means that teachers will get a salary increase of 80 leva in July next year and funds for education will be 4.2 per cent of GDP. With the fight almost lost, teachers throughout Bulgaria started getting back to work. To reporters, they cited their disappointment with way that the unions had conducted the negotiations and that more than a month with no income was not something their family budgets could endure for long. With some teachers still on strike, all that parents could do was to phone their childrens’ schools every day to find out whether teachers had come to work.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/numbers-games-in-bulgaria/id_25903/catid_5
Bulgarian teachers end six-week pay strike
| 2 November 2007 | 20:50 | FOCUS News Agency |
|
|
Sofia. Striking Bulgarian school teachers on Friday said they would return to work next week, ending a six-week protest that shut down classrooms across the country. |
01 novembre 2007
Teachers' proposal is the top of budget frame: Education Minister
| 1 November 2007 | 08:56 | FOCUS News Agency |
|
|
Sofia. ‘With the proposal that the government forwarded to teachers, we reached the top of the budget frame. During the talks we had the feeling that we are talking with a legitimate team, and later it turned out that it wasn’t like this’, the Bulgarian Minister of Education Daniel Valchev said in an interview with BNT. |
31 octobre 2007
Bulgaria's Education Min: We Have Reached the Limit of Possibilities
The talks with the Bulgarian striking teachers continues, but the government has already reached the limit of its possibilities, the country's Education Minister Daniel Valchev said Wednesday.
The dialogue will not stop, but now the question is what the teachers and the cabinet will negotiate on, as the state budget for 2008 will be introduced to the parliament in the afternoon, Valchev added.
The government reached an agreement with the trade unions on Friday on the teacher's wage hike and the agreed figures were included in the draft state budget.
"When you lead a group of people, you have to know where you are going to take them to and to have realistic goals. Everything else is mere irresponsibility," Valchev said and added that when there are only unrealistic expectations, the government has nothing else to do but to push everything to the limits of the ultimate possibilities.
Two thirds of Bulgaria's teachers resumed their strike on Tuesday and the rest went back to work, while the unions' demands for new talks were shut down by the government, which asked for more time to think over its next offer.
Education minister Daniel Valchev declined to meet with the union leaders on Tuesday, saying the cabinet was still open to talks, but first needed to re-assess its own position.
He also admonished the trade unions for not putting in enough effort to find a compromise solution to the crisis.
The unions and the cabinet agreed last week to raise the salaries of all employees in the education by BGN 80 starting November 1, which would raise the average teacher's wage by 22,5% to BGN 524, and for non-teaching staff to BGN 283.
The deal also included a 24% wage hike for both teaching and non-teaching staff on July 1, 2008, for a cumulative 48%, and the allocation of 4,22% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to education in next year's budget.
But after they were given the weekend to mull over the proposal, the teachers rejected it on Monday, refusing to budge from their demands - a cumulative 78% wage hike by July, as well as 5% of GDP allocated for education next year.
Although a full third of the country's teaching staffs returned to work on Tuesday, according to the strike committee's data, the rest remain resolute in demanding the cabinet improves its offer.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=87023
Teachers, Syndicates and Officials Tired from Strikes and Talks
Today is the 27th day since the teachers' strike actions had begun.
The united strike committee insists today to be leaded talks for agreement that will put end of the nationwide protest.
Last data shows that 53% of the teachers don't support the cabinet's suggestion. In the capital the percent of the unsatisfied educators is 75.
Today's rally will take place in front of National Theater at 16.00h.
On tomorrow's session the government will take the decision for solving the teachers' strike, says Minister Daniel Vulchev in a letter to the strike committee.
In the letter the Educational Minister express disappointment for the lack of enthusiasm in the teachers to be found a way out in the syndicates.
It's still unclear when exactly will continue the negotiations between syndicates and representatives from the Ministry, informed Yanka Takeva, leader of Bulgarian teachers' committee.
http://international.ibox.bg/news/id_421238257
29 octobre 2007
Teachers’ protest announced for Monday wont be staged
| 29 October 2007 | 10:31 | FOCUS News Agency |
|
|
Sandanski. Teachers in the town of Sandanski and from the town of Petrich will not stage the announced joint protest on Monday. The reason is that they don’t want the protest to be politicized, Radio FOCUS-Pirin reporter informed. Teachers couldn’t get permission from the Municipality to stage a rally because of the elections. |
28 octobre 2007
AGREEMENT REACHED COULD END BULGARIAN TEACHERS STRIKE
After four hours of negotiations on Friday October 26, Education Minister Daniel Vulchev and leader of the Confederation of independent trade unions KNSB, Zhelyazko Hrisov, announced that an agreement had been reached which could end the one month old teachers' strike.
The two expressed the hope the agreement would be approved by union members and could be signed on Monday October 29, BTA announced.
Under the agreement, as of November 1, the average gross salary for teachers and non-teaching staff would be 525 and 283 leva respectively.
In July 2008 both salaries would be increased, with salaries for teachers reaching 650 leva.
Under the agreement, a proposal would be made to Parliament to secure in the 2008 budget an additional 470 million leva for education, compared to 2007.
According to Trenchev, the strike had opened the debate about reforms in all sectors of state administration.
Negotiations on October 26 were held between Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, Education Minister Daniel Vulchev, Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski, KNSB leader Zhelyazko Hristov and president of KT Podkrepa Konstantin Trenchev.
Friday's talks followed dramatic developments on the night before when the talks were first said to have reached an advanced stage, but had the trade unions suddenly walk out on the negotiation table, BTA reported.
"After yet another round of fruitless talks which were being held in an unethical manner and in violation of all standards of civilised dialogue, we left the negotiations," Nikolai Nikolov, spokesperson of the national strike committee was quoted by BTA as saying.
On October 26, before negotiations, President Georgi Purvanov met with trade unions representatives. He urged a solution on the teachers' demands. Purvanov warned that the local elections on October 29 and a second round a week would not provide the right conditions to reach an agreement.
Speaking to journalists after the negotiations on October 26, Vulchev expressed his hope that classed would continue on October 30.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/agreement-reached-could-end-bulgarian-teachers-strike/id_25788/catid_66
Bulgarian Striking Teachers, Unions Discuss Final Agreement on Wage Hikes
Bulgarian teachers and the striking committees across the country launched Saturday the debates over the agreement with cabinet, which is to end the wage dispute that triggered the teachers' five-week strike.
The discussions on the government's proposal are expected to continue until Monday. If more than 50% of the strikers give their approval for the deal, it will be officially signed on the very same day.
In such case, the students are to return to classrooms on Tuesday, although it remains to be seen how they will catch up on the lost time.
Following Friday's talks that lasted more than four hours, the unions agreed to a BGN 80 hike for all employees in the education starting November 1, which would raise the average teacher's wage by 22,5% to BGN 524, and for non-teaching staff to BGN 283.
The full list includes also a 24% wage hike for both teaching and non-teaching staff on July 1, 2008, and the allocation of 4,22% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to education in next year's budget.
The two sides reached an agreement with both Socialist prime minister Sergey Stanishev and president Georgi Parvanov taking an active role in a bid to end the strike before Bulgarians head to polling stations for the local elections, scheduled for Sunday.
The deal was reached as thousands of teachers protested in capital Sofia and throughout the country, but that had little effect on the government, which refused to up its improved offer of raising wages to BGN 650, for a cumulative 48%, in July.
Unions initially demanded an increase of 95%, later dropping it to 78%, as well as 5% of GDP allocated for education next year.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=86866
26 octobre 2007
Where are talks for teachers’ salaries headed for? (ROUNDUP)
| 26 October 2007 | 15:55 | FOCUS News Agency |
|
|
Sofia. On Friday teachers keep on protesting for higher pay by intersecting the crosswalks on busy crossroads. Some 150 teachers crossed the walks on one of the key junctions in downtown Sofia. Konstantin Trenchev, President of the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa and Zhelyazko Hristov, chairman of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) met on Friday morning with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. |