A Bulgarian village school headmaster has spoken to The Sofia Echo of his frustration at the handling of the national teachers’ strike.

Roman Bratoev, who heads the SS Cyril and Methodius school in Marchaevo outside Sofia, criticised the conduct of the Bulgarian Teachers’ Union (BTU), saying: “There is no co-ordination whatsoever among the schools about the strike.”

Interviewed on September 25 as the strike entered its second day, he said: “The problem is that no one from the trade unions such as the BTU has spoken to us about joint actions and we have to find information by ourselves about what to do and what is actually happening.”

He said that he was speaking to other school headmasters every day in order to be informed and to find out what to do.

“Every morning we ask ourselves whether we are going on strike, which is ridiculous. This is the job that BTU had to do.”

He said that things should have been organised differently, with more planning.

“What BTU should have done is to launch the protest campaign in the summer. We should have been brought together, and a discussion should have happened on joint action. Nothing like this happened and this is the result.”

Bratoev said that if teachers had organised themselves better, for example in the way that Sofia public transport drivers had done to win a salary increase in May, the result would have been better.

“We could have gathered in front of the Cabinet office, we could have applied some public pressure and had our voice heard, while now we are sitting in our classrooms.”

Bratoev also took issue with the BTU demands. BTU's Yanka Takeva has demanded that teachers get a 100 per cent salary increase and nothing less.

“This is not reasonable because we know how the system works and that the money Education Minister Daniel Vulchev can give us is limited by the budget. A reasonable demand would have been a 10 per cent increase now, and an agreement on a further increase next year, which is what Vulchev is currently proposing to Takeva,” Bratoev said.

Had there been a signed agreement, teachers would have something to look forward to.

He also found it strange that Takeva’s demands included nothing other than a salary increase.

“We hoped to see that the BTU would want more money for teachers to get additional professional qualifications. Currently, a teacher can get up to 32 leva a year from the budget if he or she wants to take a course to improve his professional status. The cheapest course costs 150 leva, which is a big difference, and this was why we wanted to hear the BTU demand more money than the current 32 leva. Takeva, however, wants just a 100 per cent salary increase. Frankly, I do not know who put Takeva and the other leaders in charge of the strike and who voted their mandate,” Bratoev said.

As for his school, Bratoev said that probably it was one of the few schools in Bulgaria that did not go on strike this week.

“This will change as of October 1. We simply have been slow with the legal procedures.”

To follow the letter of the law, a school has to give seven days’ notice of a strike.

“We have done this now and if nothing changes, all teachers at the school will go on strike.”

The school takes care of 70 children and its kindergarten of another 22.

“On September 15, we warned parents that there could be a strike, so it will not be a surprise for them. However, we know that this might create inconvenience for the parents, but frankly we have to express our solidarity with all our colleagues that are on strike. We cannot sit and do nothing,” Bratoev said.

As for the children, Bratoev said that they were positive about the teachers’ actions.

“Yes, children come to school every day not knowing whether they will have classes, but they show understanding about our problems,” he said.

Bratoev said that it was difficult for the teachers as well. According to the law, the teachers will not be paid for the days spent on strike, and this was difficult enough for them, considering how low salaries were in the first place.

“I do not know how long we will be able to cope, but what else can we do when the whole country is on strike? We can’t work while our colleague don’t.”
Meanwhile, Vulchev and Takeva continued to come up with different numbers about how many schools went on strike as of September 24. According to Takeva, 79 per cent of teachers went on strike, which Vulchev said it was 39 per cent. On September 25, some hope came from the teachers’ trade unions alliance, which includes the BTU. The alliance said that they were willing to talk to Vulchev as long as they see the ministry’s financial data.

Teachers said that the money for the increase could come from the savings that the ministry had achieved this year.