Unions: Government Takes Children Hostage. Parents will manage the strike somehow

School unions are preparing for an all-day warning strike. It should take place on November 27, and some schools should close completely because of it. However, according to the vice president of the Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Education Workers Markéta Seidlová, their exact list will be known only a few days in advance.

School unions are preparing an all-day warning strike on November 27, which will close some schools. The Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Education Workers (ČMOS PS) wants to achieve an increase in the school budget. For example, they are bothered by a possible reduction in the salaries of non-teaching staff.

“The planned budget for education is underestimated and will not enable quality education for children,” claims even the vice-chairwoman of CMOS PS Markéta Seidlová. “Some schools will not be able to divide classes into smaller groups if the subject or teaching style requires it,” she said as an example. “There is also a danger that there will be no money for the purchase of new aids or for the further training of education workers,” she added.

The school unions are the first to go on a day-long strike, according to their vice president, because they perceive the great uncertainty of many of their members about what will actually await them next year. “The government says that the education chapter is increased by one billion and 200 million, but there are also cuts due to the government’s priority, which are teacher salaries. The effects will be big,” he thinks. “The strike is not about salaries, it is about the financing of education as a whole,” she added.

The unions do not yet know exactly how many schools will be closed due to the strike. It is said that they will have more accurate numbers only three to five days before its start. At the same time, Seidlová emphasized that it was the representatives of the individual schools who called on the leadership of the union to take tougher steps. “We heard from schools that a one-hour strike means nothing, that they want to fully express their anger,” he claims.

According to the union’s recommendation, schools should announce the strike at least five working days before it starts, so that parents can arrange childcare for their children. “We will do our best to inform all parents of the schools that will be closed due to the strike,” promises Seidlová. At the same time, the unions also want to address the parents with an open letter to explain the strike to them.

A central plan to take care of the children in these schools, but they don’t have one. However, according to Seidlová, parents should expect something like this. “When a calamity happens at that school, the principal’s leave is also declared and the parents have to somehow solve it,” she said in a parallel. According to her, the aim of the strike is not to make parents’ lives uncomfortable, but on the contrary to help them by increasing the quality of education for their children.

At the same time, she also denied that unions would take parents and their children hostage. “Children are being taken hostage by the government, which cuts the education budget,” she even countered. What will happen if the all-day school strike does not soften the cabinet of Petr Fiala (ODS), the unions have not yet said. He believes that only the threat of a strike can stir things up. “We hope to influence the deputies in approving the state budget,” says Seidlová.

TN.cz