The Constitutional Court is waiting to hear what the Government and the Trade Union will say.

The Constitutional Court is awaiting a statement from the Government of Montenegro and the Education Union regarding the initiative of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests (ZIPI) to assess the constitutionality and legality of several articles of the Sectoral Collective Agreement (GKU) for the field of education, it was confirmed to "Vijesti".

"I would like to inform you that in the Constitutional Court case U-II No. 20/25, preliminary proceedings are underway in which the Initiative has been submitted for response to the Government of Montenegro and the Representative Education Union of Montenegro, in accordance with the provisions of Article 34, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro," the Constitutional Court told the editorial staff.

According to information from "Vijesti", the Protector requested the review of the provisions of the General Law on Education at the initiative of the Ministry of Finance, allegedly because they are contrary to the Law on Salaries of Public Sector Employees.

These are provisions relating to the calculation of salaries and allowances in education.

The Education Union of Montenegro, headed by Radomir Božović, on his Facebook profile two days ago called the initiative a "frontal attack" on that labor organization and educational workers.

They also recalled that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation announced that they would begin implementing centralized software for calculating salaries in primary schools from August 1, which will result in a reduction in the salaries of "a large number of teachers."

ZIPI, however, in its initiative to the Constitutional Court emphasizes that the disputed articles of the Sectoral Collective Agreement introduce institutes such as "starting salary", "salary increase" and "additional coefficients", which are not provided for by the legislative framework and "enable arbitrary and legally uncertain salary calculation practices".

It particularly criticizes Article 22, which, according to the interpretation of that institution, "derogates from the general legal system" by introducing the legally imprecise and illegal institute of "additional coefficients for increasing earnings" instead of legally prescribed allowances to the basic salary.

Such a solution, the Ombudsman states in the initiative, is contrary to the Law on Salaries of Public Sector Employees, which stipulates that difficult working conditions are paid with percentage supplements, not new coefficients. This, they said, violates the uniqueness of the salary calculation system, opens up space for arbitrary practices and goes beyond the legal and constitutional framework, because neither the law nor the Government's decisions recognize such a method of calculation.

"Therefore, from all the above, it follows that Articles 16, 17,19, 22, 23, 24, 31 and 150 of the Sectoral Collective Agreement for the field of education are contrary to the provisions of the Law on Salaries of Employees in the Public Sector. Based on Article 16 of the Constitution of Montenegro, or based on all the above, the submitter of this initiative proposes that the Constitutional Court initiate proceedings to assess the constitutionality and legality of Articles 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 31 and 16 of the Sectoral Collective Agreement for the field of education, and then issue a decision establishing that Articles 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 31 and XNUMX of the Sectoral Collective Agreement for the field of education are not in accordance with the Constitution and the law and that they cease to be valid on the day of publication of the Constitutional Court Decision," the ZIPI initiative states.

The union warned on Facebook two days ago that Article 22 of the GKU is the "heart and soul" of that document, and that its repeal would mean that "the Government wants to make all decisions about increasing or decreasing salaries on its own, without dialogue with the Education Union."

They also recall that ZIPI submitted this initiative to the Constitutional Court the day after the protest on July 7, which, they state, was organized to draw attention to the need for dialogue.

"What hypocrisy from the Government, which swears by social dialogue, and on the other hand does everything to make that dialogue die," the Union points out.

This workers' organization recently announced that it will "take all legitimate steps inherent in a trade union struggle" in connection with the new salary calculation, according to which, they claim, several thousand teachers will receive a lower July salary.