- Title: Jordan reaches deal with teachers union to end one-month strike
- Date: 6th October 2019
- Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STUDENTS STANDING IN QUEUE AND SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM IN MORNING
- Embargoed: 20th October 2019 12:10
- Keywords: Teachers Union in Jordan Teachers' strike Education Amman Jordan
- Location: AMMAN, JORDAN
- City: AMMAN, JORDAN
- Country: Jordan
- Topics: Education,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA002AZYL651
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Jordan's government said on Sunday (October 6) it has reached a pay deal with the teachers union to end a one-month strike, the country's longest public sector strike that disrupted schooling for more than 1.5 million students.
The deal came after the strike threatened a deepening political crisis when the government last week began legal steps against the unions after they rejected pay hikes they said were "bread crumbs" and the government said it could not afford to give more.
The pay deal will see salaries rise by 35 percent to 60 percent from next year.
It comes after weeks of deadlock with the government intransigent over meeting an original 50 percent pay rise demanded by the unions that it said would strain the heavily indebted country's finances.
Dozens of activists from the powerful teachers union, whose members succeeded in forcing the government to agree to substantial pay hikes after a four-week standoff, celebrated in front of their headquarters in Amman.
"The teachers got their demands," said Nasser Al Nawasrah, deputy head of the Jordanian Teachers Syndicate.
He called on his organisation's 100,000 members to immediately resume teaching pupils in around 4,000 state schools that had been affected by the strike.
Tens of thousands of pupils headed to state school across the country on Sunday for the first time since September 5.
The unions announced the strike after the authorities used tear gas to disperse thousands of teachers who had congregated to press for the wage demands near government headquarters.
Many parents had kept their children at home out of solidarity with the striking teachers.
In many of the country's rural areas and smaller cities, traditional heartlands of support for the monarchy, the strike also became a protest against successive governments' failure to deliver on promises of economic growth.
The teachers, whose average salary is around 450 dinars ($630) per month, said their pay had fallen behind others in many government ministries and state agencies plagued by graft and nepotism.
(Production: Jihad Abu Shalbak, Muath Freij) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
