Higher education workers in Algarve protest against instability

Teachers, researchers and fellows from the University of the Algarve spoke out in Faro on Tuesday against the instability and declining living standards suffered by these professionals.

“As long as there is instability, the careers of higher education teachers will be harmed” as salaries will be “compressed,” stressed José Moreira, president of the National Union of Higher Education (SNESup), professor and faculty researcher. Science and Technology University of the Algarve (UAlg).

According to participants in the protest, which brought together about fifty higher education workers at the UAlg campus in Gambelas, the number of precarious workers in the sector exceeds 50%.

The joint initiative of the structures and trade unions, SNESup, the Union of Teachers of the Southern Zone (SPZS-FENPROF) and the Association of Scientific Employees (ABIC), had as its main goal “warning of the discontent and injustice” faced by UAlg.

According to José Moreira, teachers, “like doctors, have lost more than 30% of their purchasing power in recent years.”

“This is due to the dignity of our profession. We cannot accept this,” emphasized the president of SNESup.

According to the union structure, the “continuous and painful” decline in wages over the past decade has contributed to UAlg’s greater inability to attract and retain the best talent, especially those who graduated from an Algarve institution.

Protesters called for a “correction of cuts” imposed by the troika between 2011 and 2015 and “decent pay increases”, namely through access to careers, career progression and tackling precarity for teachers and researchers.

Another union leader, Joaquim Pinto Contreiras of the SPZS, lamented that in higher education, professionals “no longer demand” the correction of injustices “that are getting worse,” citing also the “serious situation of precarious people.” .

For her part, Sofia Lisboa, representative of the fellows, denounced the low salaries of this class, whose members “move from fellowship to fellowship”, lack stability and cannot find work: “ABIC wants to disappear. “We want to enter into a career,” he defended himself.

Demonstrators also protested the abusive use of the guest teacher figure, “condemning many dozens of teachers to unreliability, a grading system that limits teachers’ lateral advancement, and an aging teaching staff.”

UAlg specialists also drew attention to the “insufficient state funding” and decisions of the institution’s management, “which jeopardize its functioning and future.”

Finally, they criticized the new formula proposed in the 2024 state budget for a “significant reduction” in the state’s contribution to higher education, transferring a significant part of the budget to local authorities and commissions for the coordination of regional development (CCDR).