The finality of the verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica that the February strike of educators was illegal could also result in dismissals for the teachers who supported the suspension of classes at the time.
The General Law on Education stipulates that, in addition to reasons from the Labor Law, a teacher may be dismissed if he participates in a strike that is organized contrary to the regulations.
Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Anđela Jakšić Stojanović has, as previously announced several times by the Education Union, promised that there will be no sanctions.
Yesterday, however, "Vijesti" was not told by that department whether, in the case of the verdict being final, the Ministry will instruct school principals that teachers may not be sanctioned for participating in the strike.
On February 19, educators went on a three-day strike, as they claimed, because the authorities did not respect the Branch collective agreement and increased their January wages. After several days of negotiations, they managed to reach an agreement with the government.
Nevertheless, the Government did not give up the dispute to prove the illegality of the strike it initiated during the suspension of classes.
"The claim is accepted, and it is determined that the branch strike of the Union of Education of Montenegro, organized on the basis of the Decision on starting a branch strike number 62/1 of 22 January 1, is illegal", reads the decision signed on April 2024 the judge Milica Radović.
"According to the court's assessment, the Strike Committee of the Education Union, passing the Act on the minimum work process during the branch strike in the field of education, did not comply with the provisions of the Regulation on the minimum work process and the way to ensure it in public education institutions, which was in force at the time of the Decision of January 22, 1 and the Act on Minimum Work Processes of February 2024, 7, as an integral part of the said Decision. Against the said verdict, the parties have the right to appeal to the High Court in Podgorica within 2 days from the day of receipt of the written copy of the verdict", it was announced from the Basic Court in Podgorica.
President of the Education Union Radomir Božović he told "Vijesti" that the labor organization will file an appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Basic Court.
"All credit to the judge if she concluded like that," said Božović.
He emphasized that, regardless of the fact that Minister Jakšić Stojanović promised that there would be no severance pay for teachers who suspended classes, it is not excluded that "there may be retaliation from school directors, as employers".
The General Law on Education, among other things, provides that a teacher may be terminated from his employment contract for participating in an illegal strike.
"Nothing has been ruled out," said Božović.
According to him, the Ministry does not raise issues of determining the minimum work process for the field of education.
"After this verdict, we will probably have the Regulation from 2006 and here is the court verdict and there is no need to do anything about it. In other words, we don't have the right to strike, so what do they give us? The only thing we can do is to appeal to the Constitutional Court, to ask it to evaluate the constitutionality of that Regulation. And it is a process that lasts, for four or five years we wait for the judgments of the Constitutional Court. The Agency for Peaceful Resolution of Disputes also mentioned to the Ministry regarding that issue, they promised to work on it, and nothing more," specifies Božović.
He also added that a new Collective Agreement for the construction sector should be signed by the end of April.
According to the agreement between the Education Union and the state, teachers will have a 1 percent gross salary increase from July 10, and a 17 percent cumulative increase from September.
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