Romanian Teachers’ Strike Still On For May 5 – Union Official

"There’s nothing to talk about as long as the Government keeps issuing one ordinance after the other," Liviu Pop said.

FSLI vice president Simion Hancescu said before the beginning of talks held at the Ministry of Education that the strike planned for Tuesday will still be held, and the only strikes that can be cancelled are those set for May 13 and 21.

Unionists in the pre-university education system said Monday that the rescheduling of national exams would mean the rescheduling of strikes.

"The meeting held today (Monday) was supposed to take place Friday, Saturday (…). Today, one day before the national exams, it is a bit late. We came because we will demand 6% of the GDP and we will not back down. The general strike will be organized depending on the calendar set up by the education minister for the national exams. In other words, if she reschedules the exams, we will reschedule the strike,” said Constantin Ciosu, secretary general of the National Education Federation (FEN).

He added there will not be any compromise made in the meeting with the education and finance ministers Monday.

The talks at the Ministry of Education are joined by union leaders in education and the education and finance ministers. The purpose of talks is to get the unionists to call off the planned strikes.

The leader of the Romanian Federation of Free Unions in Education (FSLI), Aurel Cornea, said Thursday that some 80% of teachers affiliated to this federation want to boycott the national exams, and this would lead to a change in the evaluation format established by the Ministry of Education.

According to unionists, the general strikes planned for the dates when national exams are held will lead to a deadlock in the school year, because pupils will not have final grades and will not be allowed to continue their education.