In April 2005, Estonian Education Personnel Union (Eesti Haridustöötajate Liit, EHL [1]) analysed the wages in the schools, in order to see, whether the 12% rise of the wage fund foreseen in the state budget has been used to increase the wages of teachers or not. The rise of the wage fund was agreed between the government and the Estonian Employees’ Unions’ Confederation (Eesti Teenistujate Ametiliitude Keskorganisatsioon, TALO [2]) (EE0308101F [3]) in January 2005 (EE0501103N [4]). The analysis of EHL showed that in most of the local municipalities the additional means for pay rise were used to increase the teachers’ wages by 10-12%. However, there were schools, where the wages had been unchanged for last two years.[1] http://www.online.ee/~ehl/[2] http://www.talo.ee/[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/the-development-and-current-situation-of-trade-unions[4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/two-major-minimum-wage-agreements-signed
Employees in education protest against large gaps in minimum wage rates between schools that were revealed in April 2005. These gaps occur, because the government has not specified the minimum wage rates for teachers already during the last two years and local municipalities distribute financial resources by their own discretion.
In April 2005, Estonian Education Personnel Union (Eesti Haridustöötajate Liit, EHL) analysed the wages in the schools, in order to see, whether the 12% rise of the wage fund foreseen in the state budget has been used to increase the wages of teachers or not. The rise of the wage fund was agreed between the government and the Estonian Employees’ Unions’ Confederation (Eesti Teenistujate Ametiliitude Keskorganisatsioon, TALO) (EE0308101F) in January 2005 (EE0501103N). The analysis of EHL showed that in most of the local municipalities the additional means for pay rise were used to increase the teachers’ wages by 10-12%. However, there were schools, where the wages had been unchanged for last two years.
This analysis also revealed that quite large gaps in teachers’ wage rates existed between the counties, but also in the counties (see Table). For example, the minimum wage rate of teacher with higher education working in municipal school differed between counties from EEK 5,380 to EEK 8,400 at the beginning of 2005. The present situation is that teachers with the same educational level, with similar workload and work results have groundlessly large gaps in wage rates.
| County | Minimum wage rate | Maximum wage rate | Difference |
| Harjumaa | 6,170 | 7,200 | 1,030 |
| Hiiumaa | 6,225 | 7,162 | 937 |
| Ida-Virumaa | 5,710 | 7,150 | 1,440 |
| Järvamaa | 5,710 | 7,815 | 2,105 |
| Jõgevamaa | 6,281 | 7,050 | 769 |
| Läänemaa | 5,960 | 7,100 | 1,140 |
| Lääne-Virumaa | 5,950 | 7,500 | 1,550 |
| Pärnumaa | 5,380 | 7,300 | 1,920 |
| Põlvamaa | 6,400 | 7,572 | 1,172 |
| Raplamaa | 5,710 | 6,938 | 1,228 |
| Saaremaa | 5,710 | 7,040 | 1,330 |
| Tartumaa | 5,710 | 7,095 | 1,385 |
| Valgamaa | 5,960 | 7,163 | 1,203 |
| Viljandimaa | 5,577 | 8,400 | 2,823 |
| Võrumaa | 5,709 | 7,168 | 1,459 |
Source: Eesti Päevaleht, 27. April 2005
According to EHL, this is due to the fact that the government has not specified the minimum wage rates for teachers already since 2003. The last agreement between the government and the educational workers was concluded in December 2002 on minimum wage rates for 2003. Therefore the local authorities distribute financial resources between schools using their own discretion. EHL states that if the parties are not concluding an agreement for the wage rates of 2006, then it will be extremely difficult to conclude an agreement in the future, as the differences would grow even more.
In Estonia the financing system of the schools is as following:
the state subsidises the expenses of salaries, social tax, trainings and purchasing of textbooks of the municipal schools through its budget accordingly to the number of pupils in the schools; the budget of a municipal school is approved by the local government and by the board of guardians of the school;
the state schools are financed from the state budget through the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.
The minimum wage rates of teachers have not been set, because these have to be determined trilaterally - by the government, representatives of municipalities and a representative union - in the municipal schools. So far the municipalities have not been ready to conclude such kind of agreement. EHL claims that the municipalities have no incentives to conclude an agreement, as otherwise they can distribute the money in full liberty. However, when an agreement is not achieved, the government has the right to set national minimum wage rate for teachers.
Despite this, there are some municipalities, where collective agreements at local level are concluded. At the end of April 2005, the city government of Tartu and the Education Personnel Union of Tartu (Tartu Haridustöötajate Liit) signed a collective agreement for two years. By this collective agreement the minimum wage rate for teachers with higher education will be EEK 6,910 retrospectively from 1 January 2005. The wages of education workers with higher education in kindergartens will rise 20% in 2006. Beside new minimum wage rates, this agreement regulates also conditions of work and rest time, occupational safety and other social guarantees.
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Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2005), Large gaps in wages of educational workers, article.
