Moldovan PM says cabinet already considers salaries' increase in education sector

Chisinau, 05 April /MOLDPRES/ – Prime Minister Pavel Filip made some comments at the end of the Government meeting on the protest march organized by education trade union today. The prime minister said he respected the right of teachers to demand salary increase, while specifying that all government showed openness and willingness to identify solutions to claims of the trade union, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.     

"Following negotiations we obtained an intermediate result and agreed to increase wages by ten per cent for non-teaching staff of the education system and staff. For now it is the financial capacity of the country. I do not know why the unions decided to protest without warning us. We are still open and call for further dialogue," said Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Pavel Filip expressed constant concern of the government to increase the salaries of all categories of state gradually but called for balance in making claims. "I want to tell the trade union leaders that today I am ready to exchange the salary of Premier to pay a union leader. Everybody deserves decent wages and those in the field of medicine, and those in the field of culture, and the public sector. All Government does is assuring the welfare of citizens," said the chief of Executive.

However, Pavel Filip talked about the possibility of increasing salaries in the future, referring to the efforts of the Executive to enhance the attractiveness of Moldova to investors, to establish order in state institutions and increase budget revenues by about 30 per cent compared with 2016 because that order was made in customs and fiscal institutions.

"Many of those who declare themselves in opposition are disappointed that Moldova started to move in the right direction. We managed to return to normality in our relationship with the European Union, trust in government, the budget revenues increases. We unlocked funding and certainly in the coming period we will be able to offer higher wages," said the prime minister.

In conclusion, Pavel Filip urged the education trade union leaders to become more flexible and to contribute through dialogue to identify financial and other resources that can be targeted to increase salaries of teachers. "By means of force and blackmail, you will not get anything. Protests are a way of attracting attention to a problem, increase salaries in education, actually, it is already under Government consideration. I launch an appeal to realism, depoliticised claims of teachers and honesty from trade union leaders", concluded the Prime Minister.