Union head: Teachers will settle for no pay rise next year
Given the poor state of the national budget, teachers are willing to show solidarity with the rest of society and will not go on strike due to next year's wage freeze, said Reemo Voltri, head of the Estonian Education Personnel Union (EHL).
According to Reemo Voltri, the second and final round of negotiations between the Estonian Education Personnel Union (EHL) and Minister of Education Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) on minimum wage levels for next year took place on Tuesday. This confirmed information previously reported in the media that teachers' salaries will fall next year compared to the national average wage.
Despite this decline, teachers will not go on strike, although at the beginning of salary negotiations in early September, Voltri had said that teachers could maintain industrial peace if their minimum wage levels were not lowered.
"At the moment, considering the state of the national budget, which is largely due to Estonia needing to invest in national defense spending, the teaching staff is willing to show solidarity with the rest of society," Voltri said.
"This is on the condition that we receive assurances for the coming years, so that it is clear that the value of the teaching profession is not just talk, but is truly reflected on paper through concrete steps in the years ahead," Voltri added.
There will be no further talks with the minister about salaries for this or next year, but discussions on the career model and workload will continue on Friday.
"On Wednesday, we will also send an invitation to the minister of education to begin collective bargaining negotiations for agreeing on the minimum wage levels for 2026-2027, as outlined in our strike resolution. We hope that the government and its representative, Kristina Kallas, will keep their word and that we can reach an agreement that outlines how salaries will increase in the coming years, so that we achieve the goal of making teachers' pay competitive by 2027," Voltri explained.
Currently, the average wage in Estonia is slightly over €2,000. Kallas has said that ensuring teachers' wages do not fall compared to the rising average wage next year would require an additional €80 million, which the government finds difficult to secure. Right now, the minimum pay of teachers makes up 94 percent of the national average wage.
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Editor: Mari Peegel, Marcus Turovski
