Bulgaria Striking Teachers Sue PM, Minister for Lack of Respect

Politics | September 27, 2007, Thursday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Striking Teachers Sue PM, Minister for Lack of Respect Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Daniel Valchev came under fire after refusing to budge and acquiesce to the demands of the country's teachers for double wages. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

Teachers from two towns in Bulgaria threatened to take the prime minister and education minister to court for "hurting their dignity and image".

On the fourth day of the indefinite national strike, teachers from northeastern Shumen and their colleagues from coastal Burgas are determined to lodge civil claims against Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and his deputy, Education Minister Daniel Valchev.

They argue that the two circulated false statements and breached a regulation from the law on education, which states that "teachers should be respected by the students, the administrative bodies and society".

Socialist Stanishev and Valchev, member of the former king party NDSV, came under fire after refusing to budge and acquiesce to the demands of the country's teachers for double wages and dismissing "the protesters' ultimatum".

Public school teachers across Bulgaria continued on Thursday their fourth day of strike action amid allegations of intimidation and harassment.

The teachers walked off the job on Monday demanding higher wages and increased government spending on education. They want a 100% pay rise starting from next year, and an allocation of at least 5% of the country's GDP for education.

At most, the cabinet said it will be able to raise wages by 30%, unless it digs into the allocations for other sectors, and even that increase would not be possible before January.

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