Teachers leader demands meeting with IMF mission in Washington

"We should not sign this humiliating agreement". This was the message in a declaration signed by all schools in Bulgaria that took part in the recent teachers strikes. The declaration was presented at a press conference on Monday. It also called for any candidate for the post of Minister of Education and Science to have at least a 10-year practice as a teacher before being elected, saying that government statements in the last few weeks showed complete ignorance of the problems of Bulgarian education.

The press conference was called after news that one of the teachers’ unions the "Education" union within the Podkrepa confederation had agreed to sign up to the government’s offer of an increase of 4% as of 1 January 2006 and another one of 6% as of the beginning of July. This is below the teacher’s full claim for a 15% increase. A press release from Podkrepa said poor coordination of the teachers’ unions, weak preparation and activity, and the political situation in the country had forced Podkrepa to take that decision.

However the Union of Bulgarian Teachers from the other major union confederation, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, which first initiated the teachers’ strike actions rejected this. They are refusing to sign the agreement unless they are promised an additional raise in October 2006. The leader of the union Yanka Takeva declared the strikes so far to have been timely and effective and that her union was ready for further strikes.

Takeva made a scathing attack on the call by the IMF mission head for Bulgaria Hans Flickenschield for some Bulgarian schools to be closed down and the number of teachers to be cut. In an open letter to Flickenschield, she warned the IMF mission leader that the 300,000 children in Bulgaria who did not attend any schools at the moment would be the future unemployed and would depend solely on taxpayers’ money.

She announced she was flying to Washington this week to demand a meeting with Flickenschield and to present him with a letter the teachers’ union has drafted protesting against IMF interference in Bulgaria’s education system.