The Hungarian Teachers’ Union held a warning strike on January 31st. Elementary and high school teachers across the country joined in, demanding higher pay and better conditions, as well as a lowering of their workload. The warning strike was to communicate that if their demands were not met, they would start a full-on strike on March 16th.
The government has repeatedly said that as the parliamentary elections in April approach, the strike is clearly nothing but political provocation.
Following the two-hour warning strike in January, the Hungarian government issued a decree, stating that due to the pandemic, students must be supervised at all times, and at least half of all lessons must be held – thus essentially rendering ineffective any further potential strike.
In response to this, Hungarian teachers started a civil disobedience movement about which we have written in detail here.
Leading up to March 16th, numerous school principals and teachers reported that the government authority overseeing the education system (KLIK) had requested that a list be sent to them of all the teachers in each school who are planning on taking part in the strike.
The strike still went ahead, with tens of thousands of teachers joining according to the latest reports. On Wednesday 16 March, thousands of high school students protested in front of the Houses of Parliament in support of their teachers. Telex was there, and we asked the students why they were there and how they saw their teachers’ situation.
To date, the teachers’ demands have not been met, and the Hungarian Teachers’ Union has announced a protest in front of the Parliament in Budapest for Saturday, March 19th.