ECEC

Berlin’s State Labor Court has prohibited strikes by daycare workers involved in a long-standing dispute over working conditions and educational quality in daycare centers. Since 2022, workers have been calling for a collective agreement to address staff shortages and improve the quality of care. The excessive workload has resulted in burnout and higher absenteeism, which, in turn, affects the children in these centers. Workers are demanding more staff to alleviate pressure and ensure better educational support. In response to the growing dissatisfaction, 91.7% of daycare workers voted in

Childcare workers represented by the SOMK trade union, staged a significant protest in Biograd na Moru on 27 May. The demonstration called for the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining and brought together 200 workers from across the country in front of the city hall to support 19 employees from the Ivana Brlić Mažuranić Kindergarten, who have been on strike for three weeks. The striking workers are demanding the enforcement of their constitutionally and legally guaranteed rights to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Despite the Labour Law and the Law on Preschool

The SIPTU trade union has welcomed the government announcement that minimum pay rates for early years educators and managers will increase by approximately 5% from 24 June. The union is involved in talks with employer representatives as part of a Joint Labour Committee process that results in an Employment Regulation Order (ERO) implementing the new rate. The ERO covers around 30,000 workers in the sector and this time includes a change that removes the requirement for three years’ paid experience for lead educators and managers to become eligible for increased rates. SIPTU is calling for the