teachers go on strike on October 5
Image: Getty Images
It will take a while, but on Thursday, October 5, teachers in primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands will stop working. This was announced by the education unions on Wednesday. Teachers demand more pay rise because of inflation.
They demand a wage increase of at least 12 percent, instead of the 5 percent the government offers them.
Inflation correction
Last year, the wages of primary school teachers already rose by 10 percent, so that they do not earn less than teachers in secondary education. Due to inflation, an additional increase is necessary according to trade unions. “With the current teacher shortages, we will not accept that there will be no inflation correction,” says Thijs Roovers, board member of the General Education Union (AOb). Schools agree with the demand, but they do not have enough financial scope for this and therefore ask the government for help. On Thursday, October 5, primary and secondary school teachers will go on strike.
Read also: ‘Not one parent said: I am actually very happy with the teacher’
Conscious strike in October
Trade unions have deliberately opted for a strike in October. “We want the schools to start the year normally. The first weeks are super important, then you make agreements and rules with the children and you get to know each other,” says Roovers. “We don’t want them to be the victims of a strike. We are soft about that.” For the time being, teachers are not planning to demonstrate on the Malieveld in The Hague. “We have to be where the problems affect people. In your own school or in your own neighbourhood.” It is not yet known what exactly the strike will look like.
Source: RTL Nieuws, NU.nl
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