The coordinator of the Union of All Education Professionals (STOP) said this Monday in Setúbal that the Minister of Education will have to change his position towards teachers under penalty of having to leave office.
“The minister [da Educação] it must, in fact, radically change its position. Or else I think he’s on skatessaid André Pestana, who was speaking to journalists during another protest demonstration by teachers, at Praça do Bocage, in Setúbal.
I think it is impossible for a government, a minister, to continue, let’s say, persist, and not satisfy our demands, because, in reality, the STOP union is not alone. He has great, massive support from those who work, including the parents who were present at the great demonstration in Lisbon”, stressed the trade unionist.
Questioned by journalists, André Pestana guaranteed, however, that teachers are available to negotiate at this week’s meeting with the guardianship and recalled the main demands of professionals in the education sector in public schools.
“There are several demands that are transversal to teaching and non-teaching staff, such as a salary increase that compensates for inflation. People at home know that there is a shortage of teachers, because it no longer pays, with the meager salaries of teachers, to be so far from our families. And that is why there are thousands and thousands of students without classes for long months, ”he said.
We also have the issue, for example, of democratic management in schools, the issue of fair evaluation and without quotas, which is so detrimental to fellow teachers and non-teachers, the right to the Caixa Geral de Aposentação and many other issues. , such as the theft of service time, living wages, in particular for non-teaching colleagues who receive only 700 euros a month, after many decades of dedication to public schools”, added André Pestana.
The STOP coordinator reinforced the idea that the union was always available to negotiate and that it was the minister who refused to negotiate on various issues
“We always wanted to negotiate. the minister is despite our insistence for several years, he refuses even to negotiate some of these issues that I have just mentioned. And the meeting on Friday only covers a specific part of teacher recruitment and we thought from the beginning that it is incomplete”, said André Pestana, defending the need to also have a appreciation of non-teaching staff in public schools.
Faced with the proposal of the Ministry of Education reported on Sunday by RTP, that the minister will bring to the negotiating table a bond guarantee for teachers after three years of service contract, André Pestana considered that it was an insufficient proposal.
What I think is that it is insufficient, because it is not seeing the real problems. We have never simply talked about the subject of attachment. We see it as a whole, as a set of measures to dignify those who work in schools, teachers and non-teachers”, said André Pestana.
The teachers’ strike by districts began this Monday and will last for 18 days.
After Lisbon, Tuesday will be a strike day in Aveiro, followed by Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Portalegre, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Viseu, ending in Porto on february 8th
The strike of the eight union organizations occurs at the same time as two other strikes are taking place: an indefinite strike, called by the Union of All Teachers (STOP), which began on December 9 and will continue until the end of the month , and a partial strike in the first half of classes called by the Independent Union of Teachers and Educators (SIPE), which will last until February.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of teachers and non-teaching staff took to the streets to participate in a STOP-sponsored protest.
The teacher strikes began late last year, before first period classes ended, and resumed at the start of second period, meaning two weeks ago.
Source: Observadora
