Polish teachers threaten to strike as talks with government stall

By Bartosz Sieniawski | EURACTIV.pl
Aug 24, 2022

The unions want to prepare a multi-union protest committee. If these measures do not help, the protest alert could turn into a strike. The last such strike in Poland took place in 2019. [Shutterstock/BearFotos]

The Polish Teachers’ Union (ZNP), the country’s largest trade union for education workers, has said it plans to launch a warning “state of strike emergency” for September, which could escalate into a nationwide general strike.

The unions want to prepare a multi-union protest committee. If these measures do not help, the protest alert could turn into a strike. The last such strike in Poland took place in 2019.

Teachers are demanding pay rises of 20%, tying their salaries to the national average wage, as well as an increase in spending on upbringing and education.

The teachers’ unions have been at loggerheads with the Polish government for a long time as they remain one of the lower-paid public service professions in the country. Three years ago saw the biggest strike in Polish education since the 1990s, which did not bring the expected results in terms of pay rises.

Polish education is struggling with many problems, including outdated forms of teaching, the ideologically-biased core curriculum, the mass departure of teachers from their jobs and teacher shortages. According to ZNP and their calculations, there is a shortage of 20,000 teachers.

The ministry of education is defending itself because, since May; all budget sectors have had their salaries raised by 4.4%. From next year, another increase of 9% is also expected. However, this does not satisfy teachers who are already underpaid and suffer from inflation.

Despite the announcement of the ZNP threatening a strike, the organisation’s chairman, Slawomir Broniarz was more restrained. In an interview with OKO.press, he said, “it would be irresponsible to talk about a strike today or to give a specific date. We have various proposals for protest actions, including ones that do not involve the teachers’ budget and do not require extraordinary commitment.”

According to the trade unionists – the strike itself would have to wait about a month from the date of its announcement.