The teachers are taking the means they are entitled to from the collective contract, the damage to the municipalities is tens of millions

The teachers in Kosovo have managed to get their tools due to them through the collective contract, while the damage to the municipalities is estimated to be tens of millions, reports Ekonomia Online.

From the United Union of Education, Science and Culture (SBAShK), they told Ekonomia Online that the teachers have started to receive the tools, while from the Association of Municipalities of Kosovo, they call this decision "harmful for the municipalities".

The chairman of SBAShK, Rrahman Jasharaj, told Ekonomia Online that the central level is to blame for this decision, while he feels sorry for the municipalities that have to pay these funds.

"Seeing that the municipalities that were unfortunately burdened and that unfortunately the central level was not helped to fulfill their contractual obligations, they have been burdened in their budgets but my colleagues, the nursery and pre-university education workers and universities, the rights secured by the collective contract have been obtained through the courts, and I want to say with full responsibility that every case that has gone to court so far has brought a positive decision for our members and they have received them, whether , either three salaries upon retirement, or jubilee salaries. Now it's a novelty. The courts have started to decide on the difference between the professional promotion that was once given but the rest was not given, because the decision and the contract says that it is a percentage and is based on the existing salary", said Jasharaj.

In addition to receiving three salaries on the occasion of retirement, Jasharaj has said that the teachers are also receiving the means for changes for professional advancement.

"They have requested through lawyers that the change for professional advancement be based on the last salary and they are implementing it, which is quite a cost and is costing the municipalities. We are feeling very bad together with the municipalities, we have full understanding with the municipalities and unfortunately we are saying that the central level is punishing the municipalities, because that money should have been given to them in time so that the municipalities could realize it because they have their own workers", said Jasharaj further.

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But, from the Association of Municipalities of Kosovo, they say that millions of euros will be taken from the capital investments of the municipalities. Therefore, the executive director of AKK, Sazan Ibrahimi, appealed to the institutions not to pay these funds to the municipalities.

"Municipalities this year, but also in previous years, have been damaged with tens of millions of euros. The Association of Municipalities of Kosovo, since the beginning when the collective contracts were signed, has asked the Government to take the financial burden because the signatory of the collective contracts is the central level and not the municipalities, and the municipalities are losing tens of millions of euros, but these millions are being taken from the lines budgetary funds in the absolute majority of cases for capital investments and the citizens of Kosovo's municipalities are not able to enjoy these benefits because they are being taken for collective contracts", said Ibrahimi.
Since the decision of 2022, when the Basic Court in Pristina decided in favor of the teachers, the damage caused to the municipalities is 35 million euros, while the total figure that is expected to be received from the municipalities can go up to 70 million euros.

"The Association of Municipalities of Kosovo has never been and is not against collective contracts, but it is against receiving financial resources from municipalities because municipalities are not signatories of collective contracts. The municipalities of Kosovo have also requested through the courts that these funds be returned to their budgets because the central level is a signatory of collective contracts. Until 2022, when the municipalities requested through the Basic Court of Pristina to be reimbursed, the financial damage was about 35 million euros, that is, two years ago. Now, there are tens of millions of euros, and we believe that the total figure that will be taken from the municipalities will be over 70 million euros", said Ibrahimi./EO