Challenges of teachers' remuneration in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia: the view of trade unions as social partners

ENUncompetitive remuneration for teachers has been a problem for many decades in Latvia. Government together with social partners – education trade unions, have tried to solve this problem by asking to allocate additional financial resources to public education budget, by developing teacher salary raise schedules and various educational reforms in all three Baltic countries. The aim of the study is to research general principles of teachers’ remuneration and workload in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, for comparison and social dialogue argumentation on the part of education trade unions. Research approach is analysis of information on teachers’ salary calculation and workload presented by education trade unions as semi-structured interviews. Reflection on the topic in relation to theoretical sources, including international organizations representing education and social dialogue issues, is enclosed. The results of the research show that there are differences in all three countries regarding general education teachers’ remuneration. The main challenge is the implementation of effective and decision – making oriented social dialogue between trade unions and education policy makers regarding teachers’ weekly contact hours and paid additional hours per full workload, minimal and average monthly salary rate for teachers. The conclusion of the paper indicates that, based on Lithuania and Estonia experience, immediate reforms in Latvia are necessary to increase public funding for education, to increase teachers’ remuneration, harmonize and balance workload and ensure that teachers are paid for all duties performed. Keywords: teachers’ remuneration, workload, trade unions, social partners, social dialogue.