Venezuelan Teachers’ Federation: Teachers’ base income falls 92.87% in 2023 | via: Finanzas Digital
Finanzas Digital | Venezuela | Jun 19, 2023
Unofficial translation made by HumVenezuela…
According to data from the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (FVM), if the average income of a teacher VI (the highest rank) in May 2017 is taken as a reference, whose equivalent was $234, and compared to the allowances received by the professional of that category in 2023, his income fell 92.87%.
The basic tabulator in force corresponding to teachers of scales IV, V and VI, dependent on the Ministry of People’s Power for Education (MPPE), established in March 2022 a remuneration of between 337.94, 404.92 and 450.70 bolivars, respectively. These amounts represented at that time US$89, US$95 and US$106, according to the exchange rate of the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV).
However, by June 2023, and in reference to the BCV rate of Bs 27.02 per dollar, the monthly income of education workers will depreciate to 12.50, 15 and 16.68 dollars.
With the current base salary, teachers of the basic and diversified cycle cannot even cover the basic food basket, which according to the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM) was at US$ 526 in April.
In free fall
In 2018, the second single and unitary collective bargaining agreement for workers in the education sector was signed, which authorized a 100% salary increase for April of that year, with staggered increases until 2020.
Two adjustments were applied during this period. On May 1 and June 16. On that occasion, teacher VI’s remuneration was adjusted to 26,993,759 bolivars, that is, 234 dollars according to the BCV exchange rate (Bs 115,000 per dollar at that time) and 15.2 dollars if the calculation was made according to the parallel dollar, which was quoted at 1,763,309 bolivars.
However, in August of that same year, the Venezuelan government applied a monetary reconversion that eliminated five zeros from the currency.
Then, in September, the base salary for public administration workers was set at 1,800 bolivars. That action led VI teachers to earn 11.9 dollars at the official exchange rate which was 151.64 bolivars.
In 2019, the VI teacher’s salary was 40,135 bolivars. If the official dollar reference is taken (priced at 3,299 bolivars), the income of education professionals was limited to $12.50 per month, on average.
In 2020 and 2021, teachers will be paid between US$ 10 for the highest category and US$ 3 for the first category, respectively.
The situation led the union to enter into a conflict with the Ministry of Education for having lost more than 80% of their salaries.
As of March 16, 2022, the established adjustments brought the VI teacher’s income to 450.70 bolivars (40 hours per week). The new salary converted into dollars represented 106 dollars according to the BCV exchange rate of 4.32 per dollar.
Even though there was a punctual improvement, factors such as exchange instability and inflation diluted the adjustments achieved by the teachers during the last six years.
With information of El Periodiquito de Aragua