School, class, classroom – illustrative photo.
Prague – Employers' unions, school unions and teachers' associations defended themselves against the MPs' proposal, which sets the salary at 130 percent of the average gross monthly salary only for teachers, not for all teaching staff. The chairmen of the organizations therefore addressed a letter to the members of the lower house of the parliament in which they expressed their fundamental disapproval of the amendment proposal to the amendment to the Act on Pedagogical Workers. On the contrary, they supported the government's draft amendment to the law, which regulated the salary of all teaching staff. Trade unionists informed about the creation of a joint opinion on their website today.
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According to the new arrangement prepared by MPs Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL), Petr Gazdík (STAN), Renáta Zajíčková (ODS), Pavel Klíma (TOP 09) and Jakub Michálek (Pirates) and recommended for approval by the parliamentary education committee, the volume from next year, the amount of money for teachers' salaries was supposed to represent “on a monthly average for one full-time teacher, at least 130 percent of the average gross monthly nominal wage for the calculated number of employees in the national economy”. The original government proposal assumed that the amount of money for the salaries of teaching staff would be set at least 1.404 times the average gross monthly nominal wage in the Czech Republic for the previous year. If the amendment is approved, the salary adjustment for teachers should apply from the beginning of next year.
The Union of Employers' Unions of the Czech Republic (UZS ČR), the Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Education Workers (ČMOS PŠ), the Union of School Associations of the Czech Republic CZESHA and the Association of Special Educators of the Czech Republic (ASP ČR) stated in their opinion that they perceive the amendment “as unequal access to individual groups pedagogical workers”. The president of UZS ČR Jiří Horecký, the president of ČMOS PŠ František Dobšík, the president of CZESHA Jiří Zajíček and the president of ASP ČR Jiří Pilař called this unacceptable and the amendment harmful. On the contrary, their support was won by the original proposal prepared by the Ministry of Education, which guarantees remuneration derived from the average salary for all teaching staff.
If the amendment is adopted, the commitment to the average wage of the tied remuneration would not apply to educational workers, such as special educators, psychologists and educators. “I consider it extremely unfair to exclude from the guaranteed amount of salary workers who are absolutely key to the functioning of schools and, moreover, there is a huge shortage of them,” said Dobšík. The executive director of the UZS CR, Vít Jásek, in turn, warned against the demotivation and possible departure of these workers from schools, which could occur if the proposal is adopted. level of 130 percent of average guaranteed only to teachers. The government's original program statement planned to adjust the remuneration of all teaching staff. Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said at the beginning of the month that the cabinet wanted to target the change at teachers from the beginning. One of the authors of the amendment proposal, deputy Výborný, expressed a similar opinion earlier.
According to the analysis of the Czech Statistical Office, at the end of 2022, the average gross salary in the Czech Republic was 43,412 crowns, i.e. 7.9 percent higher year-on-year. However, according to statistics, the salaries of education workers decreased by 0.3 percent compared to 2021. On the contrary, remuneration in health and social care, for example, increased by 4.5 percent and in other sectors even more.
