After months of preparatory work and unexpected delays, joint education unions in Suriname have confirmed that the first full round of negotiations for a new dedicated pay structure for education workers will kick off on September 24 and 25, according to an internal GOV (Gezamenlijke Onderwijs Vakbonden, or Joint Education Unions) notice obtained by local outlet Starnieuws on September 17.
Work on the separate, education-specific pay framework began back in June, with the four participating unions — Syndicaat, DoHoS, FOLS and VWPU — laying out a core goal of building a “fair, inflation-resilient” pay system that will be rolled out in phases. The unions first presented the preliminary framework to the Government Negotiation Body (OO) on July 24, and a follow-up presentation to the Presidential Working Group on Trade Union Affairs, chaired by Minister of the Interior Marinus Bee, was originally scheduled for August 27.
That presentation was unexpectedly postponed, however, after the national government proposed a general 15 percent pay increase for civil servants and equivalent public employees. Despite the holdup to the scheduled presentation, unions continued advancing work on the dedicated education pay structure, and finally submitted their full pay scale proposal to government representatives led by Minister Bee and the OO on September 14. Now, the first plenary sessions to dive into substantive discussions of the proposed framework are locked in for later this month.
In their internal notice to members, the unions have chosen not to release specific pay figures at this stage of the process. Union leaders acknowledged that widespread impatience and demand for clarity have grown among education workers, particularly amid ongoing challenging economic conditions, but stressed that no numerical details will be shared publicly before negotiations advance. The organizations also reassured members that they will confront every challenge head-on during talks to secure a beneficial outcome for education staff.
Beyond the pay structure negotiations, the unions added that they hold weekly coordination meetings with staff from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture to track progress on implementing the collective agreement reached on June 2, 2026. Unions have urged education workers to follow GOV’s official communication channels for all future updates as negotiations progress.