In the Slovak education sector, salaries will increase by ten percent from January 2023. This will then change to 12 per cent from September 2023. Finance Minister Igor Matovič said this during a press conference on Wednesday. In the autumn, employees in the education sector will also receive an extra 500 euros, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said. It is a one-off bonus. “I am extremely pleased that we have successfully concluded collective bargaining on the salaries of civil service and public interest employees. This will be an extraordinary salary increase. We will allocate exactly EUR 1 billion for this. This autumn, they will receive a one-off bonus of EUR 500, and there will be a further increase next year, from January 2023 and then in September.” Pavel Ondek, chairman of the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers in Slovakia, noted that the strike alert will be lifted. "There is no threat of strikes until the end of August 2024. The strike alert and protests did not have to happen at all if only the members of the government had found this solution sooner. For now, strikes are not imminent, as long as the collective agreement is signed.”The collective agreement is to remain in force until the end of August 2024. Monika Uhlerová, president of the Confederation of Trade Unions, said the agreement was a kind of compromise. The ideal negotiation, she said, is one in which neither side is satisfied. "Negotiations are about compromises, both sides have backed down from their demands," she concluded.
SOURCE: TASR
