The leader of the Primary School Teachers' Union, Sanja Sprem, said that this union was not giving up its long-term fight to improve the status of primary school teachers and the entire education system. "We have ended the strike, but we are not giving up. Teachers have hoped that the government will show its appreciation of them. Unfortunately, the letter of intent we received yesterday utterly humiliated all the teachers in the public education system and hurt the dignity of our profession," she said.
Sprem said that teachers had been subjected to various forms of pressure.
The head of the Secondary School Teachers' Union, Branimir Mihalinec, said that the union's membership had decided to continue the strike at least until Monday, adding that they were expecting an invitation from the government for talks by then. "We don't want to negotiate with (Education Minister Vedran) Mornar because he has no authority, but only with Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic or with Finance Minister Boris Lalovac," he said. "Our demands remain the same. We are ready to discuss time limits for the application of a 4% pay rise."
Mornar called on the striking teachers to return to work in the interest of pupils, stressing that the days spent on strike would be paid.