Teachers in some schools across Lithuania are staging a two-hour warning strike on Friday.
Around 5,000 teachers and other education personnel in 228 educational establishments – schools, kindergartens and education centres – were expected to join the strike, according to the Lithuanian Education Employees’ Trade Union (LŠDPS).
These include 33 educational establishments in Vilnius, 44 in Klaipėda, 17 in Alytus, 20 in Panevėžys, and only three in Kaunas, according to Andrius Navickas, the union’s leader.
The LŠDPS said that teachers are free to choose activities during the strike. Some schools have cancelled the first two lessons, while others are conducting the educational process remotely on Friday.
The union is demanding a 20 percent increase in teachers’ pay from September and a further 30 percent rise from January, along with a reduction in class sizes.
Education Minister Gintautas Jakštas says that teachers’ salaries were raised in January, as agreed, and that there is no possibility of increasing them further from September.
The union intends to call a larger-scale strike if no agreement on its demands is reached by the end of September.
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