Unionists in education protest during working hours against measures proposed in education by political working group

The Federation of Free Trade Unions in Education, the Federation of Trade Unions in Education "Spiru Haret" and the National Trade Union Federation "Alma Mater" inform that they will organize protests on Wednesday in pre-university education units, in higher education institutions, in central university libraries and research institutes, with union members to wear a distinctive sign - armband, badge - during their work activities.

The three trade union federations drew attention to the fact that, in the event that Wednesday's protest is treated with "indifference" and the future Government implements the proposed measures that have appeared in the public space, which will affect education employees, they are determined to launch large-scale protest actions.

Last Friday, the trade unions in education expressed their disagreement with the information that appeared in the public space, that the working group of political parties gathered at the Cotroceni presidential palace were preparing certain measures that would be taken against education employees to reduce the budget deficit.

In the opinion of the unionists, increasing the teaching norm would be an "irresponsible" decision, since teachers are already overloaded with teaching and extracurricular/extracurricular activities, with continuing education activities and administrative tasks.

"We request the maintenance of the current teaching norm and, in the long term, a real analysis of the working conditions, in order to ensure an optimal balance between workload and teaching efficiency," the trade unions said.

According to them, lowering the salary threshold based on which vacation vouchers and food allowances are granted will result in the elimination of these rights for a significant number of employees and will lead to a decrease in the purchasing power, which will particularly affect the teaching staff at the beginning of their careers, auxiliary teaching staff and administrative staff.

"The elimination of the allowance for the scientific title of doctor is proof that the future government is not interested in performance/quality, in the development of the teaching staff and the research staff. In addition, the incomes of employees holding a PhD would decrease by approximately 550 lei in net value. The reduction of staff in the national research and development institutes and in the institutions of the Romanian Academy will lead to the collapse of research and innovation," the trade unions further explain.

The teaching staff is "deeply concerned and outraged" by the proposals that have appeared in the public space regarding the modification of the status of tenured teachers in education and the fact that they would have to work for 8 hours a day in educational units, the unionists also said.