Vol. 73/No. 26      July 13, 2009

“Don’t steal from poor pensioners,” read one placard. “Happy teachers mean good education,” read another.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union have insisted the Latvian government reduce its budget deficit to 5 percent of gross domestic product as a condition for loans. An IMF official told Reuters he hoped the budget cuts would reassure investors that the country’s currency, the lat, would not have to be devalued.

On January 13, 10,000 people demonstrated against austerity measures announced in December. In February 1,000 farmers, many of them on tractors, blocked roads in protests forcing the resignation of the agriculture minister. The entire government resigned later that month.

Mark Allen, the IMF representative for Central Europe, told Reuters that the cuts were “heroic,” but might not be enough. The Latvian government is trying to maintain the lat’s peg to the euro. Allen warned that a devaluation of the lat would affect neighboring Baltic countries. “As soon as one goes, the market, like a pack of wolves, goes after the next weakest. It’s a most unseemly spectacle,” he said.

The Latvian government is also seeking major cuts in government services such as education and health care.

“The government wanted to lower teachers’ wages by 20 percent and fire as many as one-third of the teachers,” said Astrida Harbacevica, national president of the Latvian Education and Science Workers Association, in an interview here May 29. The response of the union was to mobilize over 10,000 teachers from all over the country in a spirited protest march April 2. “We wanted to show the government that we are the union, we are together, we wanted to show our force and solidarity,” said Ligata Semjonova, president of the local branch of the union in Riga.

On May 28 the union agreed to a settlement that lowered wages 20 percent for the duration of the crisis. “This means a teacher will have about the same wages as a shop assistant,” Semjonova said. As part of the settlement, the government agreed to maintain the same workload and lay off fewer teachers than initially proposed. That agreement, however, preceded the most recent austerity package.

Students in Riga have demonstrated several times during the spring. In one protest outside the university building April 23, the students put up tents and baked potatoes, Zane Skreija, education secretary of the student organization at Riga Technical University, told the Militant.

“We are baking potatoes because many students won’t have enough money to live, let alone finance their studies,” student leader Krists Avots told the German Press Agency. “The only thing they will be able to afford will be potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

Students also organized a protest march May 5. All the different student organizations marched to meet with the minister of education.

There are no more demonstrations planned right now because of exams, said Skreija, “but we will continue to protest. We must continue and then maybe someone who listens will figure out what to do about the crises.”  
 
 
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