The United Union of Education Science and Culture

United Union of Education Science and Culture

Native name	Sindikata e Bashkuar e Arsimit Shkencës dhe Kulturës – SBAShK
Motto	Represents the interests of the workers employed in public and private institutions
Founded	February, 1990
Members	19.000
Key people	Rrahman Jasharaj, Union Leader Vjollca Shala, vice head Jehona Oruqi, General secretary
Office location	Prishtina, Kosovo
Country	Republic of Kosovo
Website	http://www.sbashk-rks.org/

The United Union of Education Science and Culture (UUESC) is a non-governmental and non-profitable organization operating in Kosovo that represents the interests of the workers employed in public and private institutions across the fields of education, science and culture. Founded in February of 1990, at its core premises, it lays oath on protecting the rights of the workers as well as their economic and social status.^[1] The current union leader of UUESC is Rrahman Jasharaj. As of the 17th of December 2019, UUESC is partaking in a lockout with the ministry of education over a new collective agreement.^[2] According to self-reported data by UUESC, this organization counts 19.000 members.^[3]

History[edit]

The United Union of Education Science and Culture was formed on February of 1990 as a means of tapping onto the region-wide need for a worker collective that works together to protect their rights and the future of education in an educationally suppressed Kosovo. During Kosovo's struggle with and among the Yugoslav Wars, UUESC goal and objective remained the creation of appropriate working conditions for student and teachers for the ultimate goal of education.^[4]

In the following years after the new administration of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was established, UUESC continued its operations with a new goal of helping reinstate schools and supply them with appropriate material for the continuation of education in a post-war torn Kosovo. It helped reinstate around 52 facilities under the project called "Rehabilitation of Kosovo's Education". Moreover, in those years, UUESC helped improve the quality of education by creating and maintaining programs for the improvement of teachers and teaching methods. In such affairs, the help of organization such as EI, Oxfam, AOB and many more was crucial to the development and achievement of these targets.^[4]

Today, UUESC(SBAShK) counts as many as 19.000 members and its primary goals are the improvement of working conditions and standard of living for teachers and professors all around the country. Although the teachers and professors of the Serbian community are represented by their own union, UUESC claims strong ties that are manifested in continuous related programs and projects.^[4]

Structure[edit]

UUESC-s headquarters are divided into two parts: Management staff and Administrative staff. The head leader of the Management staff, acting as the head of the union, is Rrahman Jasharaj. Vjollca Shala is the vice head of the union while Jehona Oruqi is the general secretary. Bardh Bardhi and Blerim Mehmeti are members of the head management staff.^[5] The administrative staff is comprised of Ymer Ymeri, Nezafete Jakupi and, Vlora Rexhepi in the roles Financial Manager, Librarian and, Assitant/Translator respectively.^[5]

UUESC is organized in a decentralized manner. It starts with one local union per school facility, which is maintained by a local union leader and its local assembly. The heads of the local school unions create the municipality assembly and then the heads of the municipality assemblies create the general assembly which is the highest constituting body of UUESC alongside the congress which is held every 4 years.^[6]

Politics, Economics and the Collective Agreements[edit]

UUESC holds a controversial position as a topic among many people and figures in Kosovo.^[7] UUESC's politics have faced many protests from political analysts such as Imer Mushkolaj and even from professors themselves.^[8][9] On September of 2019, UUESC and the municipality of Kamenica, Kosovo clashed on an agreement about educational reforms and other technical issues, among them the closing of some schools in this municipality. This urged the governor of the municipality of Kamenica, Qëndron Kastrati to claim that "UUESC sees schooling as an object, and education as a workplace, without caring about quality and advancement".^[10] In the early days of October 2019, the new agreement on educational reforms had been reached and celebrated by both parties and the demands of UUESC had been met.^[11]

UUESC and especially its leader Rrahman Jasharaj have faced many criticisms about their political behavior by some organizations including KMDLNJ.^[12]

Throughout 2019, there have been more than 6 individual controversial union cases between UUESC and municipalities, government and the ministry of Education.^{[13][8][11][14]} This shows the activity of UUESC and its power across the educational system in Kosovo. After the 2017 strike which saw schools closed for several weeks, UUESC claimed no intent to pursue make-up classes that had been lost going against the willingness of the ministry of education. The court decided in the favor of Ministry of Education however the case is still pending further altercations^[14].

Rrahman Jasharaj himself, in an interview for "KosovaPress" vented on what he deemed as an absolute fact - the presence of heavy politics in the Kosovar education system.^[15] In the same interview, Jasharaj pointed to politics along party lines as one major problem in the education system among many.^[15]

On the 12th of December, Kosovo constitutional court decided to withhold a new wage law that concerns the public sector and UUESC immediately threatened with potential strikes and organized a 2 hour strike on the very next day. According to data provided by UUESC, 98% of educational institutions held a 2 hour strike with the exception of the 2% of primary schools in the municipality of Pristina that deemed the strikes as harmful to the students^[16]

On the 14th of January 2019 UUESC officially started a strike over its unmet demands over the wage coefficient. 6 days later UUESC representatives met with at the time prime minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, where the latter notified them of a 10% increase on the coefficient. However, this deal was declined by UUESC as it was deemed not competent due to it being addressed only towards professors and teachers from primary to high school without the inclusion of technical workers and staff.^[17] On the first of January, a collective agreement had been reached between Rrahman Jasharaj as the representative of UUESC and the at the time prime minister Ramush Haradinaj. This collective agreement was met with controversies given that at the time the process was deemed as non-transparent and the details of this agreement were seen as fuzzy.^[18] Moreover, the behavior of UUESC was once again met with fury by KMDLNJ.^[19]

On the 18th of April, 2017, UUESC and the ministry of Education came to a collective agreement after months of deadlock that saw the closing of many schools for several weeks.^[20]

On the 3rd of May of 2017, UUESC also sued numerous municipalities of Kosovo for allegedly unfulfilling wage agreements.^[21]

On the 28th of April, 2015, UUESC started a new state-wide primary school and university strike over alleged unmet requirements over the pay for the month of April by the government of Kosovo as agreed on the collective agreement.^[22]

List of active years of collective agreements and non-discrete agreements:

• 2009 - Major Collective Agreement (Wages)
• 2010 - Temporary strikes with minor agreements (Environmental improvement and changes for the teachers)
• 2011 - Temporary strikes with minor agreements
• 2012 - Temporary strikes with minor agreements
• 2013 - Temporary strikes with minor agreements
• 2014 - Major collective agreement (Long strike and agreement)
• 2015 - Minor collective agreement
• 2016 - Minor strike and agreement
• 2017 - Semi-major strike and collective agreement
• 2018 - minor negotiations and advancements.
• 2019 - Semi-major strikes and threats of striking.

References[edit]

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