The leader of the Labour and Solidarity Party, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, said on Monday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, should raise wages for teachers by 6 percent, or the current government would no longer exist.

During his visit to a primary school in Zagreb, Bandic said that lawmakers from his party would no longer vote for the government-sponsored proposals in the national parliament unless the monthly salaries for primary and secondary school teachers went up.

“I call on the prime minister… (Andrej) Plenkovic to make Education Minister Blazenka Divjak see reason and redistribute 400 million kuna (€54 million) for higher salaries from an allocation of one billion kuna (€164.5 million) which she has already set aside for IT equipment,” Bandic said.

He added that the redistribution of the funds for higher monthly salaries in the education system would “put an end to the current agony and travelling circus.”

Bandic said he still trusted Plenkovic and was confident that he would make “a statesmanlike decision.”

With this move, the leader of the Labour and Solidarity Party, which is a junior partner in the ruling coalition, has taken sides with the striking school unions.

The Croatian People’s Party (HNS), also a junior partner in the coalition, has already supported the demands of the striking unions.

Minister Divjak entered the government from HNS ranks.

 (€1 = 7.42 kuna)