Professors confirm the need for a “global agreement” and promise new forms of struggle

Teachers’ unions reiterated this Friday the need for a “global agreement” with the Ministry of Education on teachers’ grievances and promised to announce new forms of struggle at a February 11 demonstration.

At a press conference held at the Liceu Camões in Lisbon, the nine trade union organizations present (ASPL, Fenprof, FNE, PRO-ORDEM, SEPLEU, SINAPE, SINDEP, SIPE and SPLIU) declared with the voice of the General Secretary of the National Federation of Professors (Fenprof), Mario Nogueira that “the fight will go on,” calling Thursday’s meeting at the Ministry of Education “weird.”

“The agreement, if there is one, must be global,” the trade union leader stressed, reiterating that the Ministry of Education cannot force trade unions to sign agreements without a “global agreement on issues”, and criticizing the idea of ​​​​signing a 10 installment agreement. “General agreement. We will sign “small agreements” or “sub-agreements” so that in the end we have a global document in which there would be aspects with which we do not agree,” he concluded.

The general secretary of Fenprof said that after the meeting, the nine unions agreed to keep the district strikes, challenge the minimum services and file complaints from school authorities where the right of teachers to strike is limited to the prosecutor’s office. due to the introduction of a minimum service. At this level, he recalled that the minimum services were declared only for the indefinite strike called by “Stop” (Union of All Educational Workers).

Regarding the meeting the day before with Education Minister António Leite, the unions reiterated that it was “well below already low expectations” and expressed their regret at the lack of a written document and responses to sector demands.

“The preamble of the global agreement and the 10 proposed agreements contain what is important to reflect or start the process of discussion with the possibility of reaching an agreement. What is important is not reflection, what is important is that there are proposals and measures to solve these problems,” concluded Mario Nogueira, despite noting some “progress” in the issue of public tenders and the mandatory system.

On the other hand, the union leader highlighted the “deep divisions” that remain with regard to the QZP councils due to local boards of directors drawing a “red line” in negotiations. “The transformation of QZP into authentic hypergroups is unacceptable,” he said, not forgetting the problem of restoring the unaccounted for in the career of professors.

“Because the professors are lagging behind in terms of seniority and progress, there is no agreement at all, and this is the reason for continuing the struggle,” said Mario Nogueira, opening the door for an agreement that recognizes this issue and which refers to the timetable: “Many years have yet to be counted. Let’s discuss how this can be done, for how long and in what way.”

As for the demonstration scheduled for February 11, which is considered a “follow-up” of the regional strikes that took place in recent weeks and ended on the 8th in Porto, Mario Nogueira expected that “it would be something extraordinary.” albeit without comparison to the previous demonstration of the pedagogical sector on January 28, which was led by the Union of all educators.

“We are not going to make predictions here. We are not in league with anyone, but there is great mobilization and enthusiasm in the schools for this demonstration,” he said, continuing: “Perhaps February 11 will go down in history as Teachers’ Day We will have an extraordinary demonstration and we will present extraordinary forms of struggle “.

Mario Nogueira did not go into details about future protests, but explained that many buses across the country have already been reserved for the demonstration, and this is “a tribute to all the teachers and all the schools” who participated in the 18-day district strike. , noting “extreme affection” for this action.

Negotiations, which began in September, are due to continue at the end of next week, a date not yet set.

The process comes at a time of strong opposition from teachers who have been on strike since December demanding full time records, better working conditions and wages, an end to instability and faster career advancement.

There are currently four separate strikes organized by various trade union organizations.