Labour and Pension System Minister Josip Aladrovic said on Monday that during a meeting with representatives of striking unions in the education sector earlier in the day, participants had expressed willingness to reach a win-win outcome of the strike.

“We held a meeting with the striking unions of employees in primary, secondary and tertiary education. The offer, which we already presented through media last week, was put on the table and we discussed that,” the minister said after the meeting.

We also heard about the problems and challenges that the unions are faced with, he said.

Aladrovic is hopeful that on Tuesday, when a new round of talks is scheduled, the trade unions will show how much they are ready to ease up and reach a compromise.

The unions have said that they are ready to talk. However, today they did not provide us with any concrete offer, Aladrovic said.

Nevertheless, the minister believes that the unions will formulate an acceptable compromise solution this week.

He said that he expected the unions to understand and accept the Government’s position and responsibility for fiscal discipline and care for other sectors.

According to Aladrovic, the government’s offer includes a 2% rise through job complexity indices after 30 June if this topic is not solved systematically by that deadline.

Education Minister Blazenka Dvjak expressed satisfaction with the resumption of the negotiations.

“It is clear that the positions are not sufficiently close for us to make any conclusions, however, various options are on the table, which is good” she said.

The minister commented on the clash of interests of striking teachers who have the right to go on strike and students, on the other hand, who are entitled to a good education.

As for her instructions for the course of this school year, which she is expected to present on Wednesday, Minister Divjak said that they would be about the legislative obligation about minimum working hours that must be performed in school.

It is obvious that we are already four days short since the start of the school year, she said in her comment on the ongoing rotating strike in schools.

The strike started on 10 October and since then, the unions which insist on raising the job complexity index for teachers have staged rotating industrial action through the counties.

She added that striking teachers would be paid for the days spent on strike in October.

On 22 October, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that raising the base wage by 6.12% will resolve the main point of the demands made by trade unions of employees in the education sector, underscoring that during the term of his cabinet wages for many teachers have risen by more than 20 percent.

Our offer to raise the base wage through the model 2% plus 2% plus 2% in compliance with basic collective agreements is consistent and resolves the main point of the demands of school unions, which ask for a 6% rise, the premier said at a news conference in Government House then.