Slovenian teachers strike for higher wages

Thousands of Slovenian teachers and professors went on strike on Wednesday in a bid for higher wages. The strike came in the wake of the government's recent decision to boost salaries for nurses and doctors, reported Xinhua.

"We supported the wage hikes for medical workers, particularly nurses... However, the feeling that the government is underrating us in omnipresent," Branimir Strukelj, head of the teachers' trade union SVIZ, told reporters.

Around 40,000 kindergarten and school teachers, and university professors joined in the strike. Although they will go back to work on Thursday, Strukelj said they would continue to take action in future until their demands for increased wages were met.

In November 2021, the government decided to raise nurses' wages by up to 25 percent. Meanwhile, in February 2022, it announced an increase of about 25 percent for doctors as an acknowledgement of their heavy workload during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, later in February the Constitutional Court said doctors' wages cannot be increased until it rules on whether this move is in line with the Constitution.

In February, around 50,000 Slovenian health sector employees, excluding doctors and nurses, staged a one-day strike to call for higher wages.

The Education Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the government had pledged "that it will not irresponsibly accept additional systemic increases of public sector spending" ahead of the April 24 general election.

The pressure on the government to raise public sector wages has been increasing in recent months as Slovenia's economy recovers from a GDP fall of 4.2 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic. However, the economy grew by 8.1 percent in 2021, the country's statistics office said on Feb. 28.