The left deceived the Hungarian teachers when they claimed that the current strike law does not comply with the regulations laid down in the basic law, emphasized the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior at a press conference in Budapest on Friday.
Commenting on the decision of the Constitutional Court a few days ago, Bence Rétvári emphasized: the panel rejected all the motions of the left and established that not a single letter of the current regulation should be destroyed, it is fully proportional and constitutional, and should be maintained. So there is no question that the teachers were deprived of the right to strike, he declared. The Constitutional Court (Ab) decided relatively quickly - said the state secretary, who said that even in retrospect it is clear that all the accusations made by the left in connection with the regulation of the right to strike were untrue.
Bence Retvari/photo: Tamas Purger/MH
He explained: it was untrue that the right to strike would be restricted disproportionately, or that the work stoppage would be impossible, or that the basic content of the strike would have been emptied; the Constitutional Court carried out the constitutionality and proportionality test and found that these arguments do not stand up at all. The board also pointed out that it should be taken into account that teachers have the right to strike within the legal framework, but the rights of children and aspects related to the operation of schools should also be taken into account, he said.
Bence Rétvári, who also touched on the fact that in Germany, for example, strikes are not allowed in schools.
Regarding the services that are still sufficient, the current regulation allows for a much faster procedure than before, the strike can be held with a five-day lead time, and there is no lengthy court dispute, he noted. The AB has also settled this issue, the legislation cannot be twisted, he added. Anyone who doubts the legality of the regulation is doubting the decision of the Constitutional Court, said the state secretary. Speaking on another topic, Bence Rétvári stated,
the government made it clear a long time ago: it agrees with the fact that teachers' wages should be increased significantly. This was already said before the first demonstration and work stoppage, he added.
He emphasized: there was a 10 percent wage increase this year as well, and another 10 percent wage increase was planned from budget resources next year, and they would like to continue this as well. He also touched on the fact that the government wants to use not only domestic but also EU funds for this purpose, so that they can achieve the largest teacher salary increase of all time in the next three years. Thus, next year the increase could be not 10 but 21 percent, and after that the increase could be not 10 but 25 percent, and finally it would be increased to 29 percent.
With this, in 25 months, the average salary of teachers could be HUF 777,000 - explained Bence Rétvári. That is why they are working, and they are confident that the resources due to Hungary will reach the teachers, he added.
He also talked about: they were always curious about the opinions of the teachers, they consulted with their representatives.
This week there was also a consultation at the ministry, where representatives of trade unions, scientific and other organizations related to education were present, and not only the salary increase, but also the goals of EU developments and the public education goals beyond that were discussed, said the state secretary. This was the seventh consultation since the formation of the new government, and the sixth since the establishment of the strike committee, he said. He also reported that in the summer and autumn, an unprecedented number of teachers were asked during a consultation, first 24,000 and then 33,000 teachers answered. Now, during the winter period, parents are being consulted, so far more than 114,000 people have sent their answers.
Source: vasarnap.hu
Featured image: MTI/Zoltán Máthé
