Ministry of Education Vows New Wage Hikes to “Foil” the Strike of 10 October

The Ministry of National Education has decided to hike wages of the employees of the sector retrospective effect from January 2008.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Education told representatives of non accredited trade unions that the aforementioned hikes are to enter into effect as soon as the government validates them in its forthcoming meeting.

In fact, the Ministry of Education has set a new bonus reaching 15 percent of the net wage, as well as increasing the qualification bonus to 40 and 45 percent, depending on the rank of the employee. The overall hike could hit 160 000 DZD (1100 Euros).

Such wage increase step aims at deterring the sector non accredited unions from holding the strike scheduled for 10 October.

Yet, several representatives of some trade unions, including the National Union for Education and Vocational Employees, expressed indignation over such “discriminative hikes, as its affiliated employees were excluded from this wage increase. The union vowed to maintain the strike of 10 October and to continue “struggle” until their claims are fully met. 

Meanwhile, the National Union for Education Employees’ representatives said they will set such government decisions for discussions and examination, while it’s for the National Council to decide whether to maintain or to cancel the scheduled strike.