Teachers' Unions send open letter to Orbán demanding immediate convening of strike committee

The Trade Union of Teachers (PSZ) and the Democratic Trade Union of Teachers (PDSZ), sent an open letter to Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán on Friday. In the letter, they demand the convening of a strike committee and the appointment of a competent government commissioner for education, the state news agency, MTI reports. According to the letter, they also demand an immediate, substantial wage increase and would like to hold talks with government representatives next week.

In recent weeks, the government has regularly argued that the teachers' pay rise can only be financed from the EU recovery fund. However, teachers' unions say that this can be done from the state budget, so they do not accept the argument "that the left and Brussels are blocking the pay raise for education workers".

PSZ and PDSZ are also demanding that the prime minister "immediately appoint a government commissioner who is familiar with all aspects of education and who is in no way connected to the failures of the past, "with whom they can engage in a professional dialogue on the structural transformation of education, the elimination of the teacher shortage, the reduction of the workload, the revision of the National Curriculum and the modernisation of public education, as the discussion of these issues "cannot be postponed" any further.

We have written in detail about the dismal state of teachers' salaries and spoke with teachers who have been fired for protesting.