Teachers hold demonstration in Budapest

Teachers’ trade union PSZ held a demonstration in Budapest on Saturday, with support from other teachers’ unions, demanding higher wages and a reduction of the burden on teachers.

Participants who gathered in front of the Parliament called for pay hikes, reducing the number of teachers’ working hours, support for those starting their career in education, the withdrawal of the regulation on the compulsory schooling of six-year-olds and the withdrawal of the act on vocational education.

Addressing the protesters, PSZ leader Zsuzsa Szabó said that if the government fails to meet their demands, the union will call a nationwide teachers’ strike in January.

Prior to the demonstration, a petition containing the demands was handed over to representatives of the ministry of human resources and the ministry of innovation and technology.

In response to the demonstration, the ministry of human resources said in a statement that the ministry had been open to the negotiations, which had been ongoing for several months, and remains open and ready for consultation on further wage demands.