Union: Referendum result on Friday, strike continuing

NEWS 28.11.201914:34
/ ilustracija

School unions on Thursday said that they would release the results of a referendum among union members in response to the government's offer on wage rise on Friday at a press conference and that their 34-day strike will continue until then.

The unions said in a press release today, that the referendum would be extended for one more day, and apart from Wednesday and Thursday, as initially planned, the voting would be also conducted on Friday.

The leaders of those striking unions said today they were not available for any comments to the press as they were counting ballots to the referendum “and conducting consultations on the ground between their members”.

The unions underlined that the strike would continue on Friday.

Some of faculties are striking too. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences has announced that it will stay on strike until all demands are met.

The referendum at faculties and higher education institutes will continue until 4 p.m. Thursday, Igor Radeka of the Grand Council of the Science and Higher Education Union said, adding that the results would most likely be known by 7 p.m.

School unions have been striking for 34 days and students have lost 14 days of lessons.

During a marathon negotiation meeting the government offered a pay increase of 10.4% in 2020, however, it did not accept the unions’ demand to increase the job complexity index by 6.11%.

After the meeting Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic claimed that a quality compromise had been found.