How to proceed in the event of a strike? The Ministry has published information for school principals

In the document, principals will find information about the school principal’s procedure, labor law aspects of the strike, and how to resolve school meals.

Any school employee can go on strike, including its principal. However, he also fulfills the tasks of the employer, therefore he is always responsible for ensuring safety and health protection at the workplace.

In order for the planned action to be marked as a strike, the school principal must be notified at least three working days in advance. At the same time, a strike committee should be established, which will provide the director with information about the reasons for the strike and its duration, as well as a list of strike participants and the names of strike committee representatives or contact persons.

Based on this information, the principal then decides whether the school can remain in operation. If not, he can declare a director’s leave or stop operations. According to the Ministry of Education, the director’s leave is a leave for pupils, not for employees. The director must inform the founder about the interruption or restriction of the school’s operation.

Employees who join a strike are not entitled to a salary. If the school is closed, teaching staff who do not participate in the strike can carry out indirect teaching activities outside the workplace, i.e., for example, devote themselves to preparations or studies.

If the school remains open, but its cafeteria is closed, the principals must provide the children with an alternative lunch from another supplier, or not cook and provide cold packs. Schools may choose to provide after-school childcare if they remain in operation. Even in such a case, they must provide food for the children.

According to the unions, the lack of money in schools would cause a significant decrease in the number of hours devoted to teaching and limit the ability of schools to divide classes into groups in which education is more effective. At the same time, the number of pupils in classes would increase, schools would limit optional subjects or the existence of small classes would be threatened.

With the strike, the unions also want to prevent a decrease in the salaries of non-teaching staff and other employees, such as educators, teaching assistants and school psychologists. They refuse that school principals have to use salary money to pay sick benefits to groaning employees.

According to the proposed budget, the Ministry of Education should have 269 billion crowns for expenses next year. Compared to this year, it is 3.9 billion crowns more. Minister of Education Mikuláš Bek (STAN) said that he would like to get another five billion crowns into the budget.