Teachers still threatening to go on strike

Education Minister Ondřej Liška’s promise of a 5-percent pay-rise for teachers this year has failed to avert the threat of a strike in the education sector. Minister Liška announced the increase on Monday, saying that teachers would get an extra 0.5 billion crowns from the 2008 state budget and another four billion crowns next year. Teachers who have been threatening strike action for months are demanding a bigger increase on the basis of rising inflation. They claim that with inflation of 7.5 percent in the first quarter their real incomes have dropped significantly. The minister says he wants to engage in further negotiations with teachers’ trade unions.