Czech school workers’ unions have declared strike alert over their dissatisfaction with next year’s pay increase offered to them by the state, union leader Frantisek Dobsik said today, while Education Minister Robert Plaga (ANO) called the unions’ reaction destructive.

The unions demanded a 15% increase in teachers’ pay. They eventually lowered their demand to a 10% increase on condition that all additional money be added to teachers’ base pay, while the education ministry proposed the monthly base wage of all teachers be raised by 2,250 CZK, and monthly bonuses worth an average 1,400 CZK for a teacher.

Teachers’ wages are raised by a government regulation. The cabinet is to discuss the relevant draft regulation for 2020 soon. The trade unions will decide on a strike on the basis of the government’s decision on this directive.

The cabinet previously promised to gradually raise teachers’ wages so that they reach an average 45,000 CZK in 2021, which is 150 percent of the sum they earned in 2017. The unions, however, demanded a steeper increase.