Balgarianovinite.com Teachers and employees in secondary education show strong readiness for protest action if their wage expectations are not met in the 2026 budget, the Education Trade Union of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour said in a press release on Monday, citing a survey it conducted. According to the union, the Government is preparing the budget “behind closed doors”.
The survey was conducted between June 1 and 7. Education Trade Union President Julian Petrov said that more than 6,500 teachers, employees, principals, and staff from the Regional Departments of Education and the Ministry of Education and Science took part in the survey, 88% of whom were women. Respondents over the age of 50 were the largest group, which is also indicative of the average age of pedagogical specialists in Bulgaria.
A total of 96% of participants believe that the remuneration of teachers and employees in secondary education in Bulgaria does not correspond to the volume and responsibility of their work. Only 2.8% consider their pay adequate for the work performed.
The Government’s idea to link salaries to students’ results has met with overwhelming disapproval, with 97% of respondents opposing it.
There is extremely high mobilization regarding readiness for protest action if salaries are not increased. 92% said categorically that they would take part in protests in support of the demand for higher pay.
The press release notes that several possible forms of protest have been discussed so far. A total of 71.1% of respondents said they were ready to take part in a national strike.
The option of not starting the 2026/2027 school year is also receiving growing support, with 53% saying they would join such an initiative.
At the same time, a significant share of those who declared readiness for protest action also support participation in one-hour warning protests, rallies, and various forms of civil disobedience.
“The survey data outline serious tension in the sector. Teachers widely feel undervalued, categorically reject the Government’s new proposals for evaluating their work, and demonstrate readiness for radical trade union action, including an effective national strike and blocking the start of the next school year. The reasons for this tension lie in the obvious discrepancy between the words and actions of the current Government. Progressive Bulgaria’s programme includes maintaining the remuneration of pedagogical specialists at 125% of the national average gross wage, and the same commitment is included in the collective labour agreement for the Secondary Education sector,” the union said.
According to the teachers’ union, in practice, however, salaries in the sector amount to no more than 115% of the national average gross wage, which makes an increase of at least 10% necessary to fulfil the commitments undertaken.
“But it is not only the lack of dialogue that is catalyzing tension in the system. The Government has quite inadequately introduced into the budget debate a link between teachers’ salaries and students’ results, which are undoubtedly unsatisfactory. These, however, are two entirely different debates,” the press release said.
The union said it insists on a meeting and negotiations on income policy in the secondary education system. Education funding for 2025 amounts to 4.9% of GDP. The union said it will firmly defend the need for honest and professional dialogue on education financing with the following proposals: the Education Trade Union calls on Finance Minister Galab Donev to immediately restore funding for Bulgarian schools; to preserve the 2025 share of GDP allocated to education; to comply with Progressive Bulgaria’s programme and the national collective labour agreement on wage growth for employees in Bulgarian education; and to adopt a strategy for reaching 6% of GDP for education.
Tension in the system is tangible and, in the absence of dialogue on the part of the Ministry of Finance, there is a real danger that it will escalate into strike action and even into failure to start the school year, the union said. Education Trade Union Reports High Strike Readiness among Teachers over 2026 Budget Expectations 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-06-08 10:14:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law