Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered a raise which was described as 'ridiculous' by teachers' unions. /Laszlo Balogh/AP
More than 20,000 public school teachers across Hungary organized a warning strike on Monday, January 31 in response to what they say are low and unjustified wages.
For two hours, teachers halted their lessons in a bid to have their voices heard.
In 2014, the Hungarian government brought teachers' wages in line with the minimum wage, which was around $320 a month. But since then their basic pay has not risen in line with the minimum wage, which now sits at around $550 a month.
READ MORE
Training with the Ukraine military
Pedagógusok Demokratikus Szakszervezete (PDSZ) is one of the main teachers' unions that organised Monday morning's warning strike. It claims the government owes teachers a debt of around 17 months' salary.
Erzsebet Nagy, one of the PDSZ leaders, says many public school teachers have run into financial difficulties because of low pay.
"We have to strike because the government is not willing to negotiate – we cannot sit down to negotiate with the government only if they are required by law to do so," she said. "They don't want to talk to unions. This is why we need to use the strike law to get into strike negotiations, and we need the strike because negotiations didn’t achieve anything so far."
Teachers feared that Monday morning's strike may have been called off for legal reasons, because in Hungary a strike cannot proceed without a final court ruling. The teachers' unions involved didn't get a final court ruling, despite their efforts, and so the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources deemed the strike illegal.
The government warned teachers that they must give "minimum service" throughout the strike and a failure to do so would be an infringement on students' rights to education.
Since teachers were not paid for the two hours they were on strike, they argued that the government was, in essence, asking them to work for free.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had tried to negotiate with teachers. In December 2021, he offered a 10 percent supplementary raise, labelled "ridiculous" by unions and teachers. He also promised a large raise in 2023.
Teachers say that doesn't go far enough, and warn that if this short strike does not yield results, they will go on a general strike in March. That could cause huge issues for Orban, who hopes to be re-elected as prime minister during Hungary's general election in April.