After 36 days of strike in primary and secondary schools, the unions and the government on Monday agreed on an increase of the job complexity indices for teachers, ending the longest strike in the Croatian education sector.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told the press after negotiations with the unions that an agreement had been reached that would ensure the cessation of the strike and resumption of classes throughout the country as of Tuesday.

The government has offered the unions an increase of the job complexity indices of 3% as of December 1, an additional 1% as of June 1 next year and a further 2% as of January 1, 2021, Plenkovic said.

The unions had demanded a pay rise through an increase of the job complexity indices of 6.11% to close the pay gap with other public-sector employees.

The head of the independent union of employees in research and higher education institutions, Vilim Ribic, said that his union would not put the latest government offer to a referendum among the membership because they already said that they would not accept any other offer but an increase of the job complexity indices.

The leader of the independent union of secondary school teachers, Branimir Mihalinec, said that his union did not have to put the government offer to a referendum, while the Preporod union said that its members would vote on the latest proposal.

The Science and Education Ministry has recommended that the schools that did not hold classes during the strike or did not hold classes on Saturdays to make up for the lost lessons, should shorten the holidays and prolong the school year.