Education and rescue workers unions held a protest outside the Riigikogu on Tuesday to remind politicians of their promises to raise salaries. Interior minister Lauri Läänemets (SDE) confirmed money has been allocated in next year’s state budget but not how much.

The minimum salary of a rescue worker is currently €1,100 -— more than €500 less than the Estonian average, the rescue worker’s union (Päästeala töötajate ametiühing) board member Toomas Suigusaar told “Aktuaalne kaamera”.

“The minimum salary is €1,100, the Estonian average is €1,700, so the difference is more than €560. In 2018, politicians promised us the average Estonian salary by 2023, then the difference between the average Estonian salary and the salary of a rescuer was €520, so the difference has increased,” he said.

Läänemets said the ministry wants to raise salaries by almost 30 percent in next year’s budget, but the exact amount will be revealed during negotiations later this autumn.

“Rescuer workers’ salaries will definitely increase. Rescuers, policemen and teachers will increase. There is no other way to put together this state budget, salary rises will come. The question is by how much and how they will come,” Läänemets said

The Estonian Education Personnel Union also held a protest at Toompea on Tuesday to draw attention to the low salaries and the shortage of teachers.

A teacher’s minimum wage is currently €1,412 a month and the union wants this raised to at least €2,000.

Source: ERR