Education unions threaten high school strikes. First events in Groningen and four other cities

Secondary school teachers may soon take action. Their unions want the government to release more money for wage increases and are therefore calling for action.

“If we are quiet now, it seems as if we think everything is okay, and that is not the case,” says chairman Jelmer Evers of the General Education Union (AOb).

After-school demonstrations

The AOb, the Federation of Education Unions (FvOv), FNV and CNV will hold the first protest meetings on 25 May. The events are in The Hague, Amsterdam, Groningen, Zwolle and Maastricht. The meetings are deliberately held after school on that day, so as not to disrupt students’ final exams, says Evers.

Collected signatures of teachers are handed over during the demonstrations. The AOb hopes that Minister of Education Dennis Wiersma will receive it in The Hague. In teachers’ rooms at hundreds of schools in the country, from Maastricht to Dokkum and from Terneuzen to Ter Apel, there are lists where teachers can fill in their signature.

AOb chairman Evers: ,,We deliberately do not do it online, because a signature is quickly filled in there. If you do it physically, it is visible and people talk about it with each other.”

The unions do not rule out that teachers will go on strike if more money is not made available. That should happen in the first half of June. “That is the period in which it is possible. After that, the second period of the final exams begins, and then it is summer vacation. But it could also be an option not to start the school year,” says Evers.

Wage increase lower than inflation

According to the AOb, the government offers money for a wage increase of no more than 5 percent, lower than inflation. “That is simply not possible. The profession of teacher and support worker must be made more attractive.

The higher salaries for secondary school teachers should ultimately also apply to primary schools. Those wages were linked last year to close a wage gap.

Minister Wiersma has announced through his spokesperson that he currently does not want to respond to the intention to take action.

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