Dozens of teachers have camped out in front of Parliament since the approval of the new teacher recruitment and placement model, vowing to continue fighting until the minister accepts their demands.
“We are here to fight against the intransigence of the Minister of Education who has ignored our demands and we will continue here because we do not want to lose visibility,” said Lusa Elsa Viola, a teacher at the Escola Gago Coutinho, in Alverca, one of the organizers of the camp that began last Thursday, the day the new teacher recruitment and placement system was approved.
The diploma was approved after a negotiation process that, for five months, brought unions and the ministry to the table without the parties being able to reach an agreement.
But the new protest by teachers and non-teachers covers up other problems that led to strikes in schools, which have been taking place since December of last year.
Strike. Minister of Higher Education says that a solution to negotiations with unions “is coming soon”
Behind this strike is the Union of All Education Professionals (STOP), which has already announced that the strike could continue in April, if the demands are not met.
The camp in front of parliament also aims to “thank STOP for raising awareness about the importance of fighting for labor rights,” said teacher Elsa Viola, who has been teaching for 30 years and, according to her stories and experience, will never be able to reach the top of the career ladder.
“I have already entered the 6th step and I have eleven years left before retirement. I am not going to reach the top of my career, because there are vacancies to access the 7th and here I can remain stagnant for years, ”he lamented.
The end of vacancies for access to levels 5 and 7 is one of the main demands of teachersas well as the recovery of the six and a half years of service that were frozen, added André Pestana, leader of STOP, who this Tuesday supported the protest in front of Parliament.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education will meet again with the unions and on the table are some of the problems that concern teachers -such as bureaucracy or overtaking- and non-teaching staff, such as the need to regularize links between these professionals .
“Once again, the ministry only will present the proposals the same day of the meeting, which is a contempt“André Pestana criticized in statements to Lusa.
From the agenda sent by the ministry to the unions, there is a point about the thaw of careers that raises doubts, the leader of STOP told Lusa.
“The Ministry talks about correcting the asymmetric effects of the race derived from the thawing period, but we do not understand if it is about recovering frozen service times or if it is only about correcting situations in which there were overtaking,” he said.
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For Lusa, André Pestana once again underlined that the struggles in schools will only stop when teachers and non-teachers understand this, recalling that there are “three central issues” crucial in this process.
The first question consists of giving peninsular teachers the same conditions that have already been given to island teachers, that is, the full recovery of service time, the end of vacancies for access to 5th and 7th grade and quotas for assessment.
The second issue has to do with guaranteeing better working and salary conditions for non-teaching staff, increasing the number of workers in schools and their salaries.
Finally, he added, STOP requires a minimum increase of 120 euros for all people who work in schools.
André Pestana’s words were backed by protesters gathered in front of Parliament who wore black T-shirts demanding “Respect” and “Dignity” and vowing to continue the fight.
“This time no one is fooling us. If Costa does not back down, we will camp next week”, shouted the protesters who, for now, say they will remain in front of the Assembly of the Republic until the end of the week.
Source: Observadora
