Teachers want to receive their "increased salaries"now

The education trade unionists categorically rejected the postponement and rescheduling of the payments in the case won by the employees for proceeds in court.

Wednesday’s meeting between the Minister of Education and the leaders of the main teachers’ trade unions finished very quickly.

At the exit, the Education trade union leaders threatened to seize the European Court of Human Rights and urged teachers to protest and also presented their interpretation of the High Court’s decision regarding the payment of the salaries’ differences the teachers had the right to during the period of October 2008 and December 2009.

Moreover, the trade union leaders considered that all teachers should receive the entitlements won by only some of them in court.

On Tuesday The High Court upheld an appeal in the law’s interest and stated that in cases in which teachers relied on the Act 221 of 2008, the courts must, firstly, pay the difference beside the actual salary they had received at that time and to do so for the whole period covered in the document, namely 1 October 2008 to 31 December 2009.

Moreover, the trade unions wanted that this increased amount to become an entry for what it was the later recalculation of the salaries based on the uniform salary law.

The leader of the ‘Spiru Haret’ Federation, George Isvoranu, showed, aft the end of the meeting of the ministry of education, that the trade union members reject the pay installments which the executive intended to do so starting next year.

"The Government does anything but implementing the decision or decisions of the courts and now the decision, in fact, of the High Court. Logically, we must receive the money and not when two Sundays come together, as they said, by staging.

This is very easy, as minister or as Prime Minister, Yes, we’ll give you the money in 10 years, in 20 years anyway we won’t even be governing and then those who will be there only have to wash their hands", George Isvoranu said.

According to the trade unions, at this time the ministry should take into account the Supreme Court’s decision from Tuesday to put all teachers back into their departments, whether they won or not the trials, whether they have filed or not any lawsuit for payment of the entitled salaries.

High Court decision "does not compel the education ministry to anything"

But legally speaking, the High Court decision cannot change the decisions that have already been handed down nor does it compel the executive or the ministry of education to anything, as judge Dana Gârbovan explained the Court’s verdict from Cluj.

"The situation remains unchanged. A teacher who has lost in court will win for a shorter time period than in the one shown by the appeal in the law’s interest,; the intern law has no remedy against the definitive decision.

The only solution, in order to avoid discrimination, would be an intervention of the legislature or a voluntary payment of salary differences by the education ministry", Dana Gârbovan said.

Ministry of Education "will begin paying next year"

Education Minister Daniel Funeriu explained on Tuesday night at Radio Romania that under a 2009 order the executive would begin next year the deferred payment of the entitlements won by teachers in court, of course, for this the amounts should be to be provided in the budget of 2012.

At this moment the Executive expects the centralization of their favorable court decisions.
There should therefore not be taken into account any allocation of entitlements for all teachers or any reclassification of theirs.

"If there had been sentences for all teachers, to cover the period of 1 October 2008 to 31 December 2009, the total amount would be3.6 billion lei.

It’s an ongoing discussion which takes place with the Minister of Finance, we need to centralize this data, to calculate the essential, so that we can apply the things in the interest of teachers, of course, in the context of the budget which is be approved from next year in Parliament", Daniel Funeriu said.

The Minister of Education stated that the future law on the teachers’ salaries, which would be ready soon, and the Executive would assume responsibility for its adoption in the Parliament, is to unify the teachers’ salaries.

As noted however, that this law will be promoted on a different position from that of the teachers who went to court for the duties under the Law No. 221.

It is the decisions from Suceava and Botosani, where the courts had decided on the restoration into their departments and on that initial increase of 50 percent, which has been described by the politicians, including the Prime Minister as a populist decision with electoral purposes.

Translated by: Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University