Reasons for the instability of labor relations between teachers and educational organizations of higher education in the Russian Federation

Abstract

When concluding an employment contract, its parties: a teacher and an educational organization of higher education (employer) are mutually independent, free and equal. However, when determining the content (conditions) of an employment contract, it is hardly possible to rely only on the equality of the parties. Both the teacher and the employer, when determining the terms of the employment contract, first of all, defend their interests. When a compromise is reached and an employment contract is concluded, one can count on the stable nature of the employment relationship. In this case, when concluding an employment contract, labor relations will be stable. In order to achieve stability in labor relations, the parties to an employment contract must come to a certain compromise on all the terms of the employment contract, including its duration. It should be recognized that the most acceptable for a teacher to maintain stable employment relations in the future is the conclusion of an employment contract for an indefinite period in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 332 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. However, this type of employment contract is evaluated differently by teachers and employers. A teacher, as a rule, focuses on a long-term employment relationship or on the conclusion of a fixed-term employment contract, but for a maximum period of five years. In turn, the employer is interested in concluding an employment contract, where there is no long-term nature of legal relations, and as a stronger party imposes on the teacher the conclusion of a fixed-term employment contract for shorter periods (for one year or one semester). The conclusion of such “short-term” employment contracts violates the balance of interests of the parties to labor relations in favor of the employer and provokes their instability. This article will consider only some of the reasons that cause instability of labor relations between a teacher and an educational organization with repeated conclusion of fixed-term employment contracts between them for the shortest possible time.