On November 1, 2016, educators of the capital went on a mass protest to the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine against high tariffs for housing and communal services.
The initiator of the picket was the Kyiv City Organization of the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine. Almost all territorial organizations of the Trade Union from different parts of Ukraine took a solid part in the picketing - from Odesa, Kherson, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Donetsk, Khmelnytskyi, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and other regions together with students from leading educational institutions, in total almost 15 thousand people.
Later, representatives of the protest action of educators met with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and discussed the issue of tariffs for housing and communal services and the issue of social standards in the country.
The Prime Minister talked about the steps taken by the government to improve people's living standards and reform the country's oil and gas sector. In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers is working on the development of solutions for the monetization of subsidies.
"The government of Ukraine has set an absolutely fair price for gas," said Volodymyr Groysman. "What we have done is a step that will free Ukraine's hands once and for all." In this context, the Prime Minister urged Ukrainians to use the subsidy mechanism.
Speaking about social standards, Volodymyr Groysman noted that from December 1, social standards will be increased to 10%. The government also decided to double the minimum wage to 3,200 hryvnias. The same cost of the government-approved consumer basket. In addition, the government increases the first tariff category from 1,430 hryvnias to 1,600 hryvnias.
He also noted that the education sector is among the main priorities of the Government. In 2017, it is planned to increase the salary of teachers by more than 30% and to increase expenses on scholarships - by 0.6 billion hryvnias. Volodymyr Groysman emphasized that an increase in wages and social standards is possible only in accordance with the growth of the economy.
"I assure you, nothing will happen, everything will be fine. I am confident in what we are doing: we are doing the right thing. All these companies will bring billions to the budget, and these funds from the budget will go to your salaries. But it will take time," said the Prime Minister.
