Teachers' Strike, Day 2
While on Wednesday, 64 schools and 59 kindergartens were on strike in Tallinn according to the city's education department, the second day of the three-day action began with 34 schools and 30 kindergartens closed in the capital.
The Education Personnel Union says over 16,000 grade school and kindergarten teachers throughout the country joined the strike on Wednesday.
Since the teachers will not be paid for the time of the strike, they have no obligation to come to work, union chairman Sven Rondik told ETV. The only obligation arising from the law is for the strike leader to be available at the adminsitration's request.
The union left it for the individual schools to decide when and for how long to close during the strike. The teachers are demanding a minimum 20 percent rise in their base salary this year. On the eve of the strike, March 6, Minister of Education Jaak Aaviksoo proposed a rise of 15 percent starting 2013, an offer that was rejected by the union as too little too late.
Erkki Sivonen
