Four of five teachers’ unions end two-week strike

The decision to end the strike came about when the government was able to come up with some of the money that the teachers had demanded and after signing a compromise agreement.

The agreement, signed by Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius and Minister of Education and Science Audronė Pitrėnienė, has tasked the government with finding an additional €8 million to raise teachers’ wages starting from 1 September.

According to the trade unions that signed the agreements, teachers’ wages will rise by about 3.5 percent at the beginning of the next school year. At the beginning of the strike, trade unions had demanded that the government find an additional €18 million – €10 million more than has been agreed to now.

The trade unions that signed the agreement also received the prime minister and minister of education and science’s written pledge to implement systemic reforms and, in January of next year, to remove the “wage scissors” that had been placed on teachers’ wages. The agreement also indicated that the teachers who had been on strike would receive pay for the days during which they had been on strike.

The educational workers’ trade union that did not sign the agreement said it had not even been invited to the final negotiations, though Pitrėnienė insists that all of the trade unions were invited. Whether or not the fifth trade union will join the other four in calling off its strike should become clear soon.