Teachers' unions send open letter to Viktor Orbán again, asking him to call a meeting of the strike committee as soon as possible

“On 7 October, 2022, the striking committee of PSZ and PDSZ sent you an open letter requesting – based on the law about strikes – your mediation so that a meeting of the striking committee could be called as soon as possible. We haven’t received an answer to our letter so far, even though the law on strikes stipulates that the two sides – in this case the government and the trade unions – cooperate with one another. It is our viewpoint that the government is violating this, as it hasn’t been willing to coordinate with the union representatives about an open-ended strike.” – they write.

According to PDSZ, the State Secretary for Public Education, Zoltán Maruzsa told the unions on 30 August that he would call the Trade Unions together within 5 days of receiving an answer from Brussels and would immediately initiate negotiations – but this still hasn’t happened.

“We only found out about the government’s reaction to our demand for raising teachers’ wages, and the promise regarding this at the government’s press briefing on 13 October 2022 – the Teachers’ Union writes. They add: “In our opinion, it is not in compliance with the law on striking that while an indefinite duration strike has been going on for months, the person delegated by the government is not willing to meet with the Trade Unions organizing that strike.”

PDSZ is asking the prime minister to take action on the issue immediately, and they are also requesting that a government commissioner be appointed.

According to them, the crisis of the education system justifies such steps, but they haven’t received an answer to these requests either.

The next unified, country-wide day of striking for educators has been announced by PDSZ and PSZ for 27 October. Teachers who want to participate in the strike that day are required to notify the director of their institution by 4 pm on 20 October.