Thursday, 20 March 2025 (Hina) – ZAGREB, 20 March (Hina) –  Representatives of three education unions – for science and higher education, secondary school employees, and Preporod – stated on Thursday that Wednesday’s strike was a success, reporting that around 37,000 employees took part, a figure differing from that provided by the Ministry.

“Out of 346 branches, 340 participated in the strike. Among our members, 8,260 went on strike, which is 86% – a figure we had anticipated. In the 340 branches, there were a total of 12,993 employees, but what surprised us the most was that the largest number of participants, around 4,500, were not union members,” said Zrinko Turalija from the Independent Union of Secondary School Employees.

“The strike was a success, and we are very pleased,” stressed Matija Kroflin from the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education.

“It has fostered additional cohesion in our sector, strengthened the position of the unions and reinforced our conviction that everything we have done over the past year has been truly worthwhile. In higher education, just under 8,500 members in 110 branches participated in the strike, which is about 30% more than the number of union members,” he said.

Unlike the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, which earlier in the day reported that around 900 higher education employees had participated in the strike, Kroflin said that, according to their records, more employees had gone on strike in just two branches alone.

“At the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 620 employees joined the strike, while at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, 450 participated. The Ministry thoroughly embarrassed itself,” he said.

He added that slightly more than 37,000 people had taken part in the strike. The Ministry of Science, Education and Youth had previously reported that 22,611 employees from primary and secondary schools and universities had participated in the strike, stating that these figures were based on records from the institutions themselves.

Commenting on the discrepancy in the figures, Kroflin cited several reasons that in some higher education institutions, it was nearly impossible to record employees on strike, that some employees were reluctant to register due to the threat of losing pay for the strike day, and that deans had not exerted pressure to ensure that striking employees were recorded.

The head of the Preporod School Union, Željko Stipić, said that the next strike would last longer than yesterday’s but did not specify when it would be organised. He also announced plans for a protest in Zagreb’s Ban Jelačić Square.