The six-week long teachers’ strike that ended in November 2007 represented the biggest national protest in Bulgaria, but was called off in time to welcome the students back to the classrooms. This decision came about after the government cabinet announced a 22.5% increase in wages for all employees in education and an allocation of 4.22% of the national gross domestic product for the education sector for 2008.
Strike chronology
Recent years were marked by a series of teachers’ protests as a result of demands for a 100% pay increase. According to statistics, the average monthly wage of Bulgarian teachers is BGN 370 (about €190 as at 9 February 2008), thereby being among the lowest wage rates in the public sector. Teachers demanded a 50% increase in wages and an allocation of at least 5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the education sector. In May 2007, teachers started protesting for higher wages and threatened to go on strike at the end of the school year (BG0706069I). The three trade unions representing teachers – Education International (EI), the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa (Страница на КТ Подкрепа, CL Podkrepa) and the Union of Bulgarian Teachers – have formed a national strike committee, which has adopted a plan for united and coordinated actions on behalf of their members.
On 15 September 2007, the first day of the new school year 2007–2008, the teachers held various protest actions; subsequently, church prayer services were held throughout the country for the salvation of Bulgarian education on 17 September; silent vigils were organised on 18 September and car rallies took place on 19 September. Furthermore, 20 September was marked by a day of silence in classrooms – in this case, teachers would write on the blackboard during class but would not speak to the students. The main strike action began on 24 September. In a press conference, Yanka Takeva, the President of the Union of Bulgarian Teachers, affiliated to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (Конфедерация на независимите синдикати в България, CITUB), stated that some 82% of all teaching personnel in the country participated in the strike. The protest action took various forms: blocking major road crossings, a series of rallies staged across the country, a hunger strike among many teachers, and erecting a tent camp in front of the parliament building in Sofia.
The three teachers’ unions issued a statement to the parents of the students, in which they appealed for their support of the teachers’ strike.
Strike action receives strong support
The teachers’ strike received support from the main trade union confederations, namely CITUB and CL Podkrepa. They summoned all of their regional and professional structures to support the teachers’ trade unions and to get involved in all kinds of protest actions. Referring to teachers, the President of CL Podkrepa, Konstantin Trenchev, stated: ‘These are the people who lay the foundations of tomorrow in Bulgaria, although many do not realise it.’ Mr Trenchev, together with the President of CITUB, Jeliazko Hristov, called on commercial banks to allow striking teachers to defer their credit payments, arguing that the teachers would not be able to make their credit payments on time as a result of the strike action.
Strong solidarity with Bulgarian teachers was expressed by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in a letter to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sergey Stanishev, and to the Minister of Education and Science, Daniel Valtchev.
In the National Assembly of Bulgaria, 64 deputies from the parliamentary opposition took a vote of no confidence in the government ‘because of the destruction of Bulgarian state policy in the educational sphere’. However, the three-way ruling coalition government has the majority of seats in parliament and thus the vote was doomed to failure.
Reactions
The strike and the cancellation of classes has provoked different reactions and opinions among the parties affected as the protest has left thousands of students out of school who are thus congregating in city parks, internet cafes and even pubs. Parents are also restless about the continued strike action: for example, one mother told a local radio station in the capital city Sofia: ‘Our office looks more like a kindergarten now.’
The Minister of Finance, Plamen Oresharski, emphasised in a press statement: ‘The problem is not that the education sector is not sufficiently subsidised, but that it is still not reformed.’ According to the Chair of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (Kонфедерация На Работодателите и Индустриалците в България, CEIBG), the education sector needs to be restructured, and the increased wages must be matched with better quality education. The employer organisations also commented on the sizeable grey economy within the education sector that must come to light.
Agreement reached
At the end of October 2007, following hours of negotiations, the trade unions and the cabinet agreed to a 48% wage increase for workers in the education sector, which should be reached by mid 2008. This represented an initial wage increase of BGN 80 (€40) a month for all employees in the education sector effective from 1 November, which would result in an immediate 22.5% increase in the average monthly teacher’s wage.
The remaining pay increase will come into effect on 1 July 2008, bringing the average teacher’s wage to about BGN 524 (€268) and for non-teaching staff to BGN 283 (€145). Finally, the parties agreed on an allocation of 4.2% of public expenditure for the education sector in 2008.
Commentary
According to Minister Daniel Valtchev, due to the strike activity, the reforms in the education sector must continue with the introduction of differentiated remuneration and restructuring of the sector. CITUB declared that trade unions will support all reforms achieved through public consensus and will initiate public discussion on the state and financing of the educational system.
Snezhanka Dimitrova, Institute for Social and Trade Union Research (ISTUR)