Government and unions finalize negotiations on teachers’ working hours

Negotiations on the restoration of teachers’ working hours ended this Thursday with an unchanged agreement, according to the government, which now wants to begin to address the issue of mobility due to illness and the situation of non-teaching staff.

The reinstatement diploma of six years, six months and 23 days “remains as it was” two weeks ago, when five of the 12 trade union organizations refused to sign the agreement because they believed thousands of teachers had been left out, said MP Secretary of State for Education Alexander Homem-Christo.

“The commitments we had with the seven trade union organizations with which we then reached an agreement have been maintained,” said the government official at the end of additional negotiation meetings requested by other trade union bodies: the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), Associação Sindical. de Professores Licencionados (ASPL), the Union of Teachers and Teachers Licensed by Higher Education Institutions and Universities (SEPLEU), Pró-Ordem and the Union of All Educational Professionals (STOP).

For Alexandre Homem-Christo, this Thursday’s meeting was primarily an “explanatory meeting” that helped “the unions understand some of the provisions and clauses of the agreement.”

The Secretary of State stressed that the diploma, due to be published shortly, represents “an improvement in the lives of teachers over a period of three and a half years”, with “90% of teachers” reaching the end of their careers and “100 thousand receiving benefits in September”.

However, the five trade union structures present at the ministry this Thursday do not forget about the other “25 thousand teachers who are left behind and will not receive a diploma,” stressed Fatima Ferreira from ASPL.

The government believes that this is a closed file; now we are moving on to publishing the diploma and its implementation.

However, Fenprof believes that the diploma can still be improved and that is why it will send it to the Assembly of the Republic, Secretary General Mário Nogueira said at the end of the meeting.

The ministry, for its part, is already thinking about “solving other problems”: “The next step will be solving issues that are also relevant to the lives of teachers and schools, including mobility due to illness and training without teaching,” announced Alexander Christo.

The trustee will call this Thursday to begin negotiations with the unions representing teachers and non-teaching staff.

Like Fenprof, the other four trade union structures also did not sign an agreement on the gradual return of six years, six months and 23 days of service until 2027.

“The worst expectations have been realized,” Stop’s Daniel Martins said at the end of the meeting, noting that most teachers are against the diploma.

Stop held several plenary sessions between May 27 and 29, attended by “about a thousand teachers”, with 85% of teachers voting against the diploma, with a very residual figure in favor of signing the diploma, Daniel Martins said.