Prompt Jasharaj: Strike could return, government to keep word on wage law

According to him, the conclusion of the first school semi-year anniversary is in the mist, until it requires dialogue by Education Minister Arberie Nagavci, in order to clarify precisely when the first half anniversary will close.

Jasharaj for Kosovo has not denied the possibility of returning the strike, as according to him, it is not closed. He said that if the government does not keep words on the salary law, they will negotiate with membership how they should act.

On December 22nd, the Assembly will meet at the plenary session, to review the Second Read-up Bill on Salaries in the Public Sector. The SBASK has demanded that their demands be considered.

When the strike is suspended it is not closed and as such it remains as the possibility to return. We even have let the opinion know that January is the month that will be decided as yet. The news we receive that is not official for the salary law because it was also this law in the past, not only The SBASK, but apart from the SBASK and other unions, sent the strike to strike... The longest strikes, Nagavci and others from the government, possibly to influence strikers, began to speak out a big word about the salary law. I believe the strike has influenced the government to speed up the process, because it originally promised in March, then June”.

May this December bring us both happy news, and second reading and voting, and I wish that Nagavci and MPs, especially the deputies, will keep their word because they have publicly promised that the deadline would be lifted eight months after the vote in the official newspaper, all of these are if they happen January will tell us... If a law is made with these salaries, we need nothing, so everything depends on the government, and in January we will welcome it with enthusiasm, but also with the challenge that if things don't happen how things are needed, Jasharaj stressed.

As for the end of the first school half-year, the SBASK chairman has said there is still no specificity.

The “has also remained in the mist of the end of the first half anniversary, because Nagavci has not had meetings, and if the Parents' Council insists on a break that they will be able to make with you and they think it is right, despite existing law colleagues are obliged to submit to school to prepare for the second half-year, but even if they are all in school, despite the lack of students being told that the learning process is being maintained and the rest of the days Nagav considers to fail. So, I had advised and begged Nagavci to sit down again with the Council of Parents and SBASK and others in order to establish and reconcile everyone for the only reason that Kosovo citizens know exactly when the first half-term, which is rest and whether there will be a drop of”, Jasharaj added.

According to Jasaw, the other cause for SBASK's demands is the lack of real dialogue by Education Minister Arberie Nagavci.

Even these months after the suspension of the strike, the government is still reluctant to make real dialogue. I have great criticism of Nagavci, since since the suspension of the strike, but even during the strike, it has not yet taken time to meet even though we have called on the official letter to discuss issues related to education and never saw the way to meet and this barricade is not fair. Whenever dialogue is lacking, tensions increase and then demand is created on the ground which is far away, and unfortunately the demands are also coming for strike”, Jasharaj said.

The education ministry insists on respecting the up-to-date calendar after the start of classes in October.

In a written response to Kosova Prees, the ministry has said that compensation of lost hours should be replaced.

It is also stressed that winter rest for all levels of pre-university education will begin on January 30th 2023 and end on February 3, 2023.

“As far as compensation of hours is concerned, this process is being carried out just as it envisions the revised school year calendar in the dates before it is realised. Based on data from the Inspectorate of Education, in recent weeks student participation in learning has been the largest at first. The school calendar should be respected, that's in the children's interest. The losses due to the strike have been enormous, so they must be compensated. It is the responsibility of the municipalities to make sure of the education process and to send regular reports on maintaining or failing to keep instruction. The revised school calendar envisions that winter rest for all pre-university education levels begins on 30.01.2023 and ends at 03,02,2023. The same calendar, meanwhile, envisions that the first half anniversary of all pre-university education levels expires on 27.01.2022, meanwhile, the second half anniversary begins on the 06.02.2023”, said in a written answer by the Ministry of Education.

The strike in education and public administration at the local and central level has started on 25 August. Because of the strike, for nearly five weeks, over 300 thousand students have remained outside school banks. Unionists have demanded 100 euros per worker per month until the law's entry into force for salaries. /Kosovopress