The extended board meeting of UNIVERSITAS yesterday decided to organise an hour-long warning strike on 5 June at 12 noon in front of the Riigikogu in Tallinn and the Ministry of Education and Research in Tartu to support their demand for a pay rise and the government's implementation of the research agreement.

The meeting was convened on Monday after news emerged that the government had not written into the national budget strategy its commitment to raise research funding to one percent of GDP, as pledged in the Science Pact.

Vladimir Viies, chairman of the board of UNIVERSITAS, justified the need for the strike by saying that Estonia is one of the last countries in the European Union to fund research, and since research is mainly funded through projects, we are also one of the last countries in terms of freedom of research. "Also, the workload of lecturers, i.e. the number of students per lecturer, is the highest in Estonia, and the rapid increase in the number of foreign students will further increase this burden," Viies stressed.

According to Triin Roosalu, President of the Academic Trade Unions, UNIVERSITAS presented a draft general employment agreement to employers in early May, which aims to raise the salaries of university employees and better regulate their working conditions.

"Negotiations on the general labour agreement are now in a big question mark," Roosalu said, adding that both parties have taken into account that the government will honour the agreements and the commitments it has made.

"It is clear that university employees are not at all satisfied with the current situation, and their activism and desire to stand up for themselves is greater than ever," Roosalu said, adding that in addition to the warning strike, other actions are planned until the problem is resolved.