Rifman Jasharaj são excludes strike from mid-September

Mayor of the United Education, Science and Culture Union ( The SBASAK, Nundman Jasharaj, has said the new school year will not start with strikes, despite not meeting their demands by the Ministry of Education, but skee rules out the possibility for strikes and protests by mid-September.

Jasharaj has said that during the next month the SBASAK Steering Council, which will make an assessment of the situation and requirements, after which the decision on further union actions will be made.

“We have warned that given our membership situation, there may be added demands and needs to take union action. In May, we have staged a pre-government protest with the participation of leaders of all associations with legitimate demands, but we did not receive any positive response from the Kurti government and Mrs. Nagavci. The presence of union action is growing. We will not have a strike on September 2nd, but during September we will gather the Steering Council, which is the highest body and representative of all workers in education, from nests to university. They will make an assessment of the situation and the requirements, and if the demands have the majority backing, we will act on them”, Jasharaj said.

The head of the SBASK has said that because of the failure to meet demands by MASTI, the teacher's anger is growing and that they cannot exclude either protests or strikes that could occur during September.

“We cannot exclude either protests or strikes that could occur during September and beyond, as requirements are the same and none have been realised so far. It's growing, and we have no signal that something will change. We've always tried to get in touch with Mrs. Nagavci, but she's been avoiding them. We have even made written requests, but we have received similar answers, claiming that she does not have time. As chairman, I hear she continues to hold the anger of the 2022 strike, and this is very bad. When there is no dialogue, there is nothing to say membership, and it increases resentment and discontent, making it possible for in September to have union action”, he said.

Jasharaj has said there have been meetings with Deputy Education Minister Taulant Kelmendi, where they submitted their demands and made it clear that the new school year will not start with strikes.

He has said that at this meeting they have repeated their response to the subvention of texts, and, according to him, have argued that MAST had made mistakes in distributing textbooks, thus damaging the school year.

“During the meeting, we have made it clear that there will be no strikes at the start of the school year and expect membership response. We have also discussed problems with distributing textbooks. On behalf of membership, I've presented and reiterated our response to the division of textbooks for the previous school year, where we argued that AugustI had made a huge mistake in distributing textbooks, thus damaging the school year”.

Our proposal is for textbooks to be sent to schools in time, and not to happen distribution through libraries, which has resulted in considerable delays. Instead, we demand that the distribution process be organised better, with the help of schools to ensure that students are equipped with the necessary textbooks before the start of the” school year, he has said of EO.