Trade Unions of Education Workers Accuse Government of Ignoring their Demands  

Serbian Government building (BETAPHOTO/NENAD PETROVIC)

Representative trade unions of workers in education on May 28 warned that the new Serbian government had been ignoring their demands for a meeting, which would address problems in the education system as defined in the Protocol from Oct, 12, 2023.

The Association of Trade Unions of Education Workers of Serbia has said in a statement that under the Protocol, the government took the obligation to “resolve the accumulated problems in the education system within clearly set deadlines.”  Some of the problems cited include opening job vacancies for part-time education workers who have been waiting full-time employment for more than a decade, reducing the paperwork and increasing starting salary of teachers to equal the average pay in Serbia. 

They also said the government had pledged to, during 2024, work on changing the Decree on coefficients for calculating salaries in the public sector, while no work had started yet. Noting that the government had been running late or had missed the deadlines for meeting its obligations, the trade union said their next steps would be announced at a news conference outside the government building on May 30. 

The stands of the Association of Trade Unions of Education Workers of Serbia is shared by the Teachers’ Union of Serbia, the Independent Trade Union and the Trade Union of Education Workers of Serbia.