Libya's teachers threaten to re-strike for higher pay

Libya’s teachers threatened on Monday to protest and boycott educational institutions, accusing the country’s Government of National Accord of “unequally paying the teachers and delaying implementation of the salary increases.”

The teachers’ warnings came during the 10th meeting of Libya’s Teachers’ Union, which was held in the country’s western district of Al-Khams under the slogan “Halve teachers and look after education.”

“The national accord government is refusing to implement the parliament’s Law No 4 of increasing of teachers’ salaries,” the union’s statement read.

Ezzeldine Boulahia, one of the teachers who attended the forum, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the bloc would call for a protest and would boycott of schools for the second time by the start of the second semester “if the government did not implement the wages increase law.”

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Late December, the Libyan parliament approved a law to raise the teachers’ wages, calling on the country’s education ministry to start its implementation. At the same time that the national accord government did not announce its stance towards the new law. Later, the education ministry launched a programme to address the protests, included increasing salaries through “additional education classes.”

The government must determine its position re the implementation of the salaries law

Boulahia stressed.

Referring to the Libyan government’s “additional classes” solution, he pointed out that it was targeting the teachers “only.” “What about the school’s administrative staff?”

Last year, the Teachers’ Union called on the Libyan authorities to submit a bill for increasing teachers’ salaries, provide medical insurance as part of the teachers’ pay package, and revisit salaries for the retired teachers.