Lunches for pupils and director’s day off. The minister advises directors on how to manage the strike

There is a week left until the announced strike of the school staff. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) issued a list of information for school principals on Monday. It includes steps directors can expect and advice on how to behave.

A one-day strike called by the school unions is scheduled to take place next Monday. The purpose of the event is to win higher salaries for school non-teaching staff. Their already low wages are in danger of further reduction.

Therefore, on Monday, the Ministry of Education published a list of information intended for school principals whose staff intend to participate in the strike. The document states the duties of the strike committees towards the school management and the rules according to which the strike is conducted.

For example, strikers must notify the director of their intention no later than three working days before the strike itself. They must also establish a strike committee to forward demands and other strike information to the director. Together with them, they must also hand over the list of employees participating in the strike. The director himself can be among these employees.

According to the law, no one can be forced to go on strike, but at the same time, directors cannot prevent a protest. Likewise, it is forbidden to penalize strikers in any way for participating in a strike. The director must also ensure the safety and health protection of the strikers at the workplace even during the duration of the strike.

As soon as the principal receives information about the upcoming strike, he must decide from the information presented by the strike committee whether the school is able to function on the day of the strike. If possible, at least in limited operation, the school should teach.

This is how, for example, the Faculty Elementary and Kindergarten School of the Pedagogical Faculty of Charles University in Prague’s Smíchov will approach it. The school will remain open on Monday and classes will be held there. Compared to normal days, however, the strike will significantly reduce teaching.

According to the director of this school, Radmila Jedličková, the parents of the students should consider leaving their children at home. “We assume that the operation of the school will be as on other days from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The classes will be combined so that the students are close in age, and during the class they will study, work on projects, play games to develop vocabulary, memory and similarly,” said Jedličková.

​At a number of other schools, however, the strike will be complete and because of this they will not be able to teach even in a limited mode. The management of these schools has the option to declare a director’s holiday, during which the pupils will stay at home. Even if, for some reason, the principal is unable to announce a director’s leave, he can suspend operations at the school due to the impossibility of ensuring operations.

In such a case, the principal must inform the parents and the founder of the school. He should definitely inform them of the extent to which school operations will be restricted, especially if the school remains at least partially open, but the school cafeteria is no longer.

Tyrš’s primary school in Brno, for example, is expected to be completely shut down. “On Monday, our school will be closed for the whole day, if political negotiations do not bring a solution that would prevent the strike. We are aware that closing the school will cause complications for parents. However, this step is not about us, but rather about the overall unsustainable situation in education,” she said director Michaela Jedličková.

School catering is a separate chapter. Pupils are entitled to a meal, and if the school is open but the school cafeteria is not, the principal must provide lunch in another way. Options are, for example, ordering catering or buying cold food, such as a baguette.

The strike is not about the teachers. The government has tripped up more workers, the unions say:

TN.cz