The government is destroying the status of teachers and education, which should be the foundation of economic development, jeopardising the future of society, union leader Zvonimir Laktasic said, adding that Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic should step down.
He criticised the low investment in education and called on citizens to join in a protest march to be held in Zagreb on October 11.
We don't know any other European country in which the government's salary cuts in public services affected only teachers, said another union leader, Branimir Mihalinec.
The manifesto says the incumbent government is even "more brutal" in its treatment of the education sector than the previous one.
It is wrong to think that the worse it is for education, the better it will be for the economy, the manifesto says, adding that individuals and nations think best about the future when knowledge and education are encouraged.