The National Federation of Teachers will join the national strike on October 27 and recognizes that, together with other trade union structures, it is moving towards new forms of struggle, such as a new cycle of district strikes.
“Since teachers are also victims of measures that punish all other Portuguese, Fenprof has decided to take part by joining and publishing a strike notice on October 27 for the entire public administration,” said this Friday the general secretary of Fenprof, Mário Nogueira, during a press conference in Lisbon.
The meeting with journalists included a presentation of the federation’s assessment of the proposed state budget for 2024 (OE2024).
In addition to participating in the strike called by the United Front of Public Service Unions, Fenprof called on teachers this Friday to take part in the national demonstration called by the CGTP for Lisbon and Porto, which will take place on November 11, to protest against the OE. The proposal is announced this week.
In Fenprof’s view, the OE’s education proposal is “limited to guaranteeing minimum educational services” because there is a lack of investment, said Mario Nogueira, accusing the government of issuing “grocer’s bills.”
Secretary General Fenprofa also called for participation in the October 21 demonstration organized by the Vida Justa movement and said that new forms of struggle will soon become known.
A decision on the protests will be made early next week, on October 17, at a meeting with eight other trade union structures that are part of the trade union platform, which has been implementing several initiatives since the last school year.
Mário Nogueira said actions could range from “simple things” such as proposing an agenda to the prime minister, as António Costa “says he does not accept trade union organizations due to the lack of an agenda”, but also district-wide strikes or new ones national demonstrations.
In addition to the platform meeting, Fenprof said meetings have also begun in schools across the country to listen to teachers and educators.
Fenprof also does not rule out the possibility of carrying out “convergent actions with other sectors whose service life was not taken into account,” as was the case with the police and military.
Other hypotheses are protests together with health workers: “We do not rule out that educators and health workers could carry out actions together,” said Mário Nogueira, announcing that Fenprof would contact the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) and the Portuguese Union of Nurses (SEP).
At the moment, on Monday, Fenprof representatives plan to be in Almeirim to convey the federation’s position on OE to Education Minister João Costa.
On Tuesday it will be the day when nine trade union organizations will meet to determine actions for joint development, and on November 13 they will hold a street protest in the Assembly of the Republic, while the minister is “in parliament”. defending OE.”
Another of the initiatives already planned is the presence of teachers in front of the Ministry of Finance on the 23rd to demonstrate to Minister Fernando Medina the “voice power of teachers.”
“The Minister of Finance said yesterday [quinta-feira] in the morning on a radio that is not inferior to teachers because it is not inferior to sectors only because it has organizations with strong voice power. The minister doesn’t even know what voting power is,” explained Mário Nogueira, referring to the refusal to account for his six years, six months and 23 days of frozen service.
Secretary General Fenprof announced the “vocalization of teachers” during October 23, claiming that “Mr. Medina will certainly be pleased”: “He will not forget,” he concluded.