The Independent Union of Science and Higher Education Employees, the Preporod School Union and the Independent Union of Employees in Secondary Schools on Saturday rallied in downtown Zagreb to oppose the new Wage Act and performance evaluations, set to take effect in public services on 1 January.

The protest began at 1 p.m. in the Trg Republike Hrvatske Square, with participants marching toward the central Ban Jelačić Square, prompting special tram traffic regulations.

A large crowd expressed their discontent with whistles, union flags, and banners bearing messages such as “Coefficients are unfair, we demand change”, “Dear AP, teachers wouldn’t mind your salary”, “No action, no reaction”, “Evaluations: Revenge of poor students on their teachers”, “Corrupt government steals our future”, “You’ve destroyed everything, but we won’t surrender education”.

Ahead of the protest, organisers emphasised the importance of highlighting dissatisfaction to prompt changes to the Regulation on Wage Coefficients. They presented three core demands: Exemption from the performance evaluation system or a complete overhaul of the concept; removal of dismissal as a consequence of poor performance evaluations in public services; and elimination of the 20% cap on negotiating salary supplements through collective agreements.

In addition to performance evaluations, union members also expressed significant dissatisfaction with unfair wage coefficients, which continue to place education and science staff at the bottom of the public sector pay scale.

Independent presidential candidate Marija Selak Raspudić supported the protest, criticising the introduction of what she called a highly unjust evaluation system for teaching staff.

“Such a system will lead to disunity among staff and hinder the creation of quality schools nationwide. It is deeply harmful and shows no understanding of how the education system functions,” Selak Raspudić said before the protest.

She also questioned why Croatia still faces a teacher shortage despite recent salary increases, asking, “If these wages are sufficient, why are so many teaching positions still vacant?”