ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Striking teachers in Sulaimani province say they will not go back to the classrooms until the government pays their overdue salaries.
“We are not ready to go to work until we receive our salaries,” Ata Ahmed, deputy head of the Sulaimani branch of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union, told Rudaw on Friday.
The new academic year began on Wednesday, but many teachers in Sulaimani province refused to go to work, especially those without contracts, until they receive their paycheques. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not paid public sector salaries for July, August, and September due to a nearly decade-long financial crisis that was worsened when Turkey suspended the flow of Kurdish oil to international markets in late March.
“One of our concerns is that the government has not even reached out to us to see what demands we have. No one has held any meetings with us,” Ahmed said, noting that payment of one month's salary will not be enough to satisfy some teachers.
Health workers also walked off the job when the strikes in Sulaimani province began earlier this month.
Erbil has blamed Baghdad for the delayed payments.
Despite the passage of the controversial federal budget earlier this year that many hoped would resolve long-standing financial disputes between the federal and regional governments, both sides claim the other is not fulfilling their obligations under the law.
Iraq’s Council of Ministers on Sunday agreed to loan a total of 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars to the Kurdistan Region to cover civil servant salaries for a period of three months. The decision was welcomed by KRG PM Masrour Barzani. However, the money has not been transferred yet, reportedly due to obstacles by Shiite lawmakers. The first payment is expected to be sent on Sunday.
There are three types of teachers at schools: civil servants, those on temporary contracts, and those without contracts.
Teachers without contracts, who are known as “lecturers,” are disappointed because their salaries are much lower than their contracted colleagues and the KRG’s failure to pay them on time makes their lives harder.
Midya Osman is a teacher without a contract. She said that female teachers are allowed to take only 21 days of maternity leave.
Sulaimani province’s southern Garmiyan administration is the area most impacted by the strike. Dara Ahmed, head of Garmiyan’s education directorate, told Rudaw that he has called on teachers to return to work “because their work is sacred.”
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