STOP urges central unions to plan general strike for February

The coordinator of the Union of All Educational Professionals (STOP) said this Sunday that it has sent a request to the two central unions as soon as possible, preferably later this month, to schedule a general strike.

“CGTP [Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses] condemned and rightly done this attack on the right to strike and we also appealed to the UGT [União Geral de Trabalhadores] call a general strike,” Andre Pestana told the Lusa news agency.

The STOP coordinator recalled that, since only two trade union centers can call a general strike, “they do it as soon as possible, preferably this month”, given that “the appeal was sent today” to the two structures.

In his opinion, “it can still be scheduled for February if there is a desire”, as STOP should “make a constructive call for this to happen, because all professional industries are suffering.”

“The CGTP, which has shown itself because of the minimum of services, let it be consistent and mark a general strike in order to protect the comprehensive school, through all professions,” he stressed.

But also, André Pestana continued, “because this general strike should clearly tell the government that it must stop prioritizing billions of euros for bankers and ruinous public-private partnerships.”

Of the three points stemming from a meeting that took place all day Saturday in Coimbra with more than a hundred representatives of the trade union commissions, one is to “reaffirm that, despite minimal services, the strike will continue.”

And the last point, he added, is that “the organizers of the teachers’ demonstration on February 11 were called to join the demands of non-teachers.”

According to the STOP coordinator, “the unity between teachers and non-teachers is what has made January one of the greatest months of struggle in education” in Portugal.

“This unity made the authorities waver and made the president of the republic a few days ago give a message to the government, something like Brussels’ statement that there is some budgetary headroom to give in on some more difficult things,” he said.

In the same week, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also stated that “there comes a point when the sympathy that really exists in public opinion towards the teachers’ cause can turn against them.”

When asked by the Lusa agency about the words of the head of state Andre Pestan, he categorically stated that “the president of the republic and politicians must also understand that the sympathy they experience from the population can also change.”

“That is to say, educational professionals who work and live off their work can also find sympathy for the President of the Republic, who is a witness to great injustices such as the degradation of public schools and the encroachment on the right to strike, and who, obviously, if he will remain neutral, he too can change,” he said.

In this sense, André Pestana referred to “Desmond Tutu’s Nobel Peace Prize”. [o antigo arcebispo emérito sul-africano e ativista] who said a fantastic phrase: neutrality in the face of injustice is choosing the side of the oppressor.