The way the coalition is reacting to the upcoming teachers’ strike is very embarrassing to watch. Those in power have simply forgotten that they have responsibilities. Both in front of the teachers (who were promised porridge mountains completely voluntarily), the people of Estonia and the European Union, writes Member of the European Parliament Yana Toom in Õhtuleht.
The situation of educators is actually quite bad. The teaching profession has ceased to be attractive, which – and the Estonian Education Workers’ Union is absolutely right in this – is a direct threat to Estonia’s security. Adding fuel to the fire is the transition to Estonian-language education in the form in which the government pushed it through.
Ministry counterattack
Teacher burnout, teacher shortages, teacher resignations and dismissals in situations where there are none – all this provokes classic civil disobedience. A strike is the first step. I remind you that the teachers are not only demanding an eight percent salary increase in 2024 (instead of some 1.77 percent): they also want a collective agreement for four years, so that what they are promised is also fulfilled.
What did the Ministry of Education and Science do after that? Instead of de-escalating tensions and reaching an agreement, they counter-attacked and tried to ignore the right to strike, claiming that the strike was illegal. While everyone – including the Office of the National Conciliator – is telling the Ministry that this is not true. But the desire to show the pedagogues the place seems to be stronger than anything else.
Less than a year ago, the European Union adopted the minimum wage directive. Just in case, I specify: with the consent of the Estonian government. The document aims for the minimum wage to be at least 60 percent of the median wage (we have 47.5 percent) or at least 50 percent of the average (we have 38.7 percent). An increase in the minimum wage also means an increase in all wages.
The EU favors collective agreements
The directive also concerns the means to increase the coverage of workers by collective agreements, so that the right to the collective agreement that teachers want is also set in stone at Brussels level. Brussels demands a detailed plan from each member state – what is the government going to do to cover 80 percent of all workers with collective agreements? In Estonia, this percentage is still less than 20. Even such a strong trade union as that of the education workers covers less than half of the education workers.
In other words: the Estonian authorities have undertaken to support the trade union movement, the fight for workers’ rights and collective agreements in every way. On paper. The same one with other beautiful promises, which has now become 1.77 percent in terms of teacher pay increases. Paper is known to suffer from everything.
