The strike is not about the teachers. The government has failed other educators, the unions claim

The school unions are preparing for a day-long warning strike, which is expected to take place on November 27 and some schools are expected to close completely due to it. However, their exact list will be known only a few days in advance, according to the vice president of the Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Education Workers (ČMOS PŠ) Markéta Seidlová. Seidlová was a guest of Thursday’s program Naše Česko, where she added details of the strike.

This week, the theme of the school union strike resonates with society. “The schools will announce if the school will be completely closed or if there will be limited operations and what will happen to the children. We demand that this be at the latest on Wednesday, November 22. We are in no way in favor of the schools making a decision until Friday. Because that’s really a very short time for parents, especially young children, to take care of them,” Seidlová said.

However, CMOS PŠ recommends that schools be closed completely. There are several reasons. “In the government’s program statement, there is a commitment that the salary of not only teachers, but all pedagogues, will reach 130% of the average wage. At the same time, there was a commitment that they would want schools to be proactive and innovative. But new forms of education come at a cost,” she outlined vice president of the school department.

According to her, the main problem is that the government has assured the unions that there will be money for it. “Before the law was approved, it was a big shock to other educators that they singled out only teachers. We have to realize that in schools we also have educators who have the same university, educators in children’s homes, diagnostic institutes, school groups, special educators, teaching assistants… but they have already been forgotten,” Seidlová mentioned.

He also sees a problem in the lack of money for equipment. “When it is cut, there will be fewer teachers, some will have to leave. And it may happen that three children will be sitting at one computer when teaching computers. Or will we teach languages ​​in full classes, is that what we want?” she asked in the program Naše Česko.

​”The fault lies with the entire government, because the entire government decides on the budget. We all have to tighten our belts, but our point is to convince the MPs to put money from it into the education budget. We want to show the parents what the consequences will be , if the money isn’t there. But it’s just one day of fighting for the education chapter not to be cut,” Seidlová disagreed with the statement that they are taking children as hostages.

Watch a compilation of important moments from the interview with Markéta Seidlová:

TN.cz