Venezuelan. Teachers are leading public-sector workers in what have
become the biggest anti government protest in years. They
are demanding higher salaries in the face of soaring inflation
. The average monthly wage for public school teachers is
around 500 bolivars for about$20. Salaries have not
been adjusted for almost a year. Despite annual inflation
reaching 440% in January. While many private sector employees
now get paid in dollars which allow them to enjoy
rising living standards. Public sector workers paid in believers
are struggling to make ends meet. Rose Marie Nieves
is a public school teacher in Caracas. Daily expenses
are not the only thing she worries about covering.
Rosemary suffers from sickle cell anemia and needs to take
three types of medication on a regular basis. In
order to cover these costs, Rosemary started giving private
tutoring classes on top of her regular teaching job in
the face of this deteriorating economic situation. Some teachers
are leaving the profession for higher paying jobs or other
trades in a bid to calm the protests. The
government has offered teachers some assistance but many say it's
not enough. The Nicolas Maduro government gave the teachers
a one time bonus of$30 by mid January.
It also promised to increase the minimum wage, but
that promise has not been materialized yet. The Venezuelan
teachers are demanding wages that go between 307$100 a
month. But what the government is expected to raise
it to is way lower than that.