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Kosovo’s teacher unionists have ended their strike after public authorities began implementing the collective agreement signed between their trade union and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) is implementing the collective agreement signed with the Union of Education, Science and Culture of Kosovo (SBASHK) after a two-day strike involving 99 percent of education employees. At stake was an increase in pay recognising experience set at 0.5 percent for each year of service, as well as new monthly rates of 405 Euros for primary teachers and 442 Euros a month for secondary teachers.

Concerned by a miscalculation of work experience, the SBASHK President Rrahman Jasharaj and other trade unionists were guaranteed at a meeting with the Minister of Education, Science and Technology Arsim Bajrami and his cabinet on 3 May that these mistakes will be corrected this month and that the MEST will also work at implementing the other points of the collective agreement.

A decision to create a joint commission between the SBASHK, the MEST and the Ministry of Finance, tasked with both identifying the errors made in the April 2015 salary scale and to correct them, was also established.

Due to the governmental engagements and the guarantee brought by Minister Bajrami to implement the collective agreement, the SBASHK Executive Council decided to suspend strike action for this school year.

Jasharaj thanked Education International (EI) and its affiliates for their support: “We are aware that without your support we would not have accomplished what we have accomplished this time.”