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Latvian teachers to strike over pay, funding

Xinhua, November 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Latvian teachers' union decided on Wednesday to call a one-day warning strike on Nov. 27, the local media reported.

The Trade Union of Education and Science Employees took the decision after a fierce debate on Wednesday.

It is expected that several thousand teachers will join the strike.

The teachers want the government to release 9 million euros (9.63 million U.S. dollars), earmarked for a new pay system which failed to get off the ground this year and to increase the funding for science and higher education.

Last Friday, representatives of the teachers' union and the Latvian education and science ministry agreed to indefinitely postpone the launch of the new pay system but the teachers said they would still consider striking.

In the summer, the teachers' union and the ministry came very close to striking a deal on the new wage system, but now they are once again entrenched in their previous positions as the union claims that the new pay system would result in smaller wages for too many teachers.

The wage scheme, proposed by the education and science ministry, has also drawn criticism from local authorities, and the teachers' union has called it deeply flawed, warning that the strike is inevitable. Endit