The Independent Union of Teachers and Educators, promoter of one of the ongoing school strikes, acknowledged improvements to the ministerial proposals but warned of the need to discuss other claims by teachers who have “reached the limit”.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education released a series of proposals mainly focused on the selection and placement of teachers, which were taken into the third round of negotiations with the unions.
“We are pleased that certain principles have been dropped, such as recruitment and direct deployment. They were unacceptable proposals and are not covered in this diplomasaid Júlia Azevedo, president of the Independent Union of Teachers and Educators (SIPE), which is part of the group of union structures that will be received at the ministry on Friday to resume negotiations.
SIPE also welcomed the proposal to increase the staff of the Pedagogical Zone (QZP) from the current ten zones to 63, “because it reduces the likelihood that the posted teachers will have to travel many kilometers every day,” he said.
There are teachers who are not linked to a school, but to a QZP. With the new proposal, the vast majority of teachers can be placed in schools that are “up to 50 kilometers away”explained the Minister of Education, João Costa.
Despite the “improvements”, Júlia Azevedo has still not been able to specify whether the changes defined in the proposal will be sufficient to suspend the struggle promoted by the union, which began a partial strike at the beginning of the second period in the first half of the lessons for each teacher.
However, the president of SIPE left a warning: “The power of the professors is very great. The professors have reached the limit”, that is, it is not enough to debate “only the competition certificate, but the rest of the proposals.”
Teachers want definition of a negotiation calendar to discuss matters “allowing to restore dignity”, such as restoration of seniority, abolition of vacancies and quotas for access to the 5th and 7th levels, working hours and mobility due to illness.
“We are going to propose to the Ministry, within the possibilities, to open calendars for those same files so that we can come to an agreement,” he said.
For the union, the government proposal is to increasing the number of teachers who manage to access the 5th and 7th levels “is very little”.
Nor does SIPE accept the guardianship’s refusal to reclaim the approximately six years of service frozen during the ‘troika’.
“There are careers that have already managed to recover seniority, and very well. It is very fair, because it was time worked and withheld and it makes a difference in salary. In this case, the Finance Minister will have to consider and even negotiate the length of employment,” said Júlia Azevedo, emphasizing again that teachers are available for a phased recovery.
The president of SIPE also recalled the “different realities within the same country” as there are no vacancies in the Azores and Madeira for access to the 5th and 7th levels and the islands’ teachers managed to fully recover their service time.
“Who decides whether the strike should be stopped or not will always be the employees who will do so through an inquiry or referendum, but we are hopeful that the minister will put something else on the table,” the president concluded on the eve of a meeting with the guardian.
Teachers have been on strike since late last year and currently three different strikes are taking place simultaneously, organized by different union organizations: the first was the Union of All Education Professionals (STOP) in December, followed by SIPE at the start of the second term of classes and this week a strike started by districts promoted by a platform of trade union structures, where the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) is located.
National Federation of Education will participate in the demonstration on February 11
The National Education Federation (FNE) announced on Thursday that it will take part in the February 11 teachers’ demonstration in Lisbon and is considering joining the district strike called by a platform of eight trade union organizations.
The decision was taken unanimously by the FNE Executive Committee, which met on Wednesday evening, after meeting with the Minister of Education in the third round of negotiations on the revision of the recruitment and mobility regime for teaching staff.
At the end of the meeting with the guardianship, the secretary-general of the FNE told journalists that João Costa’s proposals were still “very small”, but expressed his optimism about the future of negotiations on this issue.
Still, he did not rule out resorting to other forms of struggle, including the strike, to “strengthen the negotiations” and because the Ministry of Education did not answer a series of other claims.
This Thursday, the FNE announced in a statement that it had decided to organize its own initiatives and participate “in the most diverse protest actions and struggles, for itself, for its trade unions and in collaboration with other trade union organizations”.
For now, participation in the teachers’ demonstration, convened by an informal platform of eight trade union organizations, including the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), which will take place in Lisbon on February 11, is only certain.
Source: DN
