Opposition LMP has called for an immediate 60 percent wage increase for teachers, amendments to strike laws in order to improve teachers’ interest representation options and adjusting the calculation of teachers’ wages to reflect the increase in minimum wages, party lawmaker Krisztina Hohn said on Monday.
Hohn told a press conference that LMP supports the teachers’ trade unions demand for a wage increase, adding that a career-starting graduate would make less than the minimum wage under the current calculation rules. This is because the minimum wage has been gradually increasing in recent years but the formula for teachers’ wages remained unchanged, she said.
She called the government’s announcement of a 10 percent wage hike for teachers a “joke” compared to the recent “brutal price increases”. At the same time, the wages of school directors and their deputies did increase, which has resulted in a wage gap with regular teachers, she said.
Hohn said the changes are needed to reduce the current shortage of teachers and to prevent teachers from changing jobs.
Featured photo illustration by Zoltán Balogh/MTI