TWO POSSIBILITIES FOR BULGARIAN TEACHERS’ SALARIES CRISIS

09:14 Tue 23 Oct 2007

Two possibilities for increase of the teachers’ salaries were discussed at the expert-level negotiations on October 22 2007, Atanas Katsarchev, adviser of Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski, said.

It was still unclear whether there would be an agreement at the high-level meeting scheduled for after the end of the motion of no-confidence discussions in the Parliament, mediapool.bg said.

The opposition parties tabled the motion of no-confidence as a result of the teachers’ strike for higher salaries, which started on September 24 2007.

The first possibility discussed was the 648 leva average gross salary by July 1 2008, as the Cabinet proposed.

The second version was the unions’ demands three salary increases by 20 per cent in October 2007, on January 1 2008 and on July 1 2008, Katsarchev said.

The difference between the two offers was nearly 120 leva, mediapool.bg said.

According to Katsarchev, the amount of the increase of the average gross monthly wages hindered the negotiations ending.

He refused to estimate when all the details of the agreement could be agreed upon.

Teachers’ strike committee said that the protests would continue on October 24 2007, if no agreement was reached.

Comments

Comments by Graham Tucker - 10:49 23 Oct 2007
	My partner has been a teacher for 26 years. She is dedicated to her work and is often up very late at night and very early in the morning peparing her students work. She is much respected by parents and pupils alike. I find it unbelievable and totally unacceptable that she is paid the pathetic salary she is. Furthermore she is being used as a pawn in the political games being played. Of course there must be reforms in education and restrictions put on public sector spending. There are bad teachers and good teachers but when there is talk of reform it is only acceptable if a decent salary is paid for a decent days work. If the authorities opt to pay peanuts they will get monkeys. The future of Bulgarian education is at stake, what cost do we put on the future of it? My partner for one, as I am sure will be many others, be a sad loss to the Bulgarian education system but she is being driven to despair. I would have no hesiatation in taking her to Spain or England where her skills would be appreciated and paid for. It is your loss Bulgaria, I love your country but you are a disgrace when it comes to the treatment of the majority of teachers.