Reports suggest that the promise made by the Civic Coalition in their “100 Policies” document to raise teachers’ salaries by at least PLN 1500 gross is being shelved. Educational union representatives received the Ministry of National Education’s (MEN) draft salary regulation and are furious. Despite allocating over half of the funds for these raises themselves, increasing subsidies by a record PLN 12 billion, the government questions the realization of yet another promise. Przemysław Czarnek, head of the Ministry of Education and Science in the United Right government, expressed his concerns on Twitter.
In the “100 Policies” of the Civic Coalition, under the education section, it states:
“We will increase teacher salaries by at least 30 percent. Not less than PLN 1500 gross raise for teachers.”
It is now evident that the promise of a “PLN 1500 raise for teachers” can be put away.
“I’m not disappointed; I’m angry,” said Urszula Woźniak, vice president of the Polish Teachers’ Union, in an interview with “Gazeta Wyborcza.”
On Friday, the Polish Teachers’ Union (ZNP) received the Ministry of National Education’s salary regulation draft for evaluation. According to union calculations, the raises for teachers will range from PLN 1167 to PLN 1365 gross. A consultative meeting is scheduled for February 1, 2024.
However, it turns out that the PLN 1500 refers to a mythical average salary, not the actual rate. Waldemar Jakubowski, chairman of the education branch of “Solidarity,” commented, “We were discussing a 30% raise with former Minister Przemysław Czarnek, in the context of inflationary compensation.”
In response to these reports, Przemysław Czarnek, the Minister of Education and Science in the United Right government, expressed his disbelief on Twitter.
“Oh dear! What’s this? Really? Another promise won’t be fulfilled? Despite us preparing over half of the funds for these raises by raising subsidies by a record PLN 12 billion? We’ve increased the salaries of the lowest-paid teachers by about 100% since 2015! And the #CoalitionOfFrauds can’t even manage a few percent?” wrote Czarnek.
However, Civic Coalition politicians decided to respond. Deputy Minister of Education Katarzyna Lubnauer argued that the “average teacher salary will increase by over PLN 1500.”
This is what Waldemar Jakubowski meant by referring to the “mythical average salary, not the actual rate.”
ZNP also retorted about “average salary”:
“The average teacher salary is a theoretical legal construct consisting of many elements, some of which are not even considered as salary, such as retirement and disability benefits. The average salary is thus artificially inflated. The average teacher salary cannot be equated in any way with the mathematical average we know! The amount of the average teacher salary cannot be identified with a teacher’s pay.”