About 1,500 teachers will hold a protest rally outside Government House at noon on Thursday to demand the government raise wage indexes in education by 6.11%, and union leaders expect a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

Teachers will protest to support the NSZSSH union of high school staff and the SHU teachers’ union in their demand for the pay rise.

The rise is being demanded for 68,000 education employees, NSZSSH president Branimir Mihalinec told Hina on Wednesday, adding that the two unions have 40,000 members.

He said that in talks with Education Minister Blazenka Divjak they had reached a high degree of agreement concerning the pay rise demand, and that they expected the government to pass a decision on wage indexes.

Mihalinec said that if the prime minister did not receive them tomorrow, or if he did but they failed to agree on the unions’ demand, the two unions would announce a strike in elementary and secondary schools for Monday, the first day of the new school year.

He said the date of the strike would be known by Monday and that it would last until union demands were met.