This Monday, Fenprof’s secretary general acknowledged progress in the government’s position on restoring seniority, but wants to see promises in writing and admits that even then it will be difficult to reach an agreement.
“There has been some progress in the negotiations, but it is still far from us being able to talk about an agreement,” said Mario Nogueira after a second meeting with the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI).
Having proposed a phased return of six years, six months and 23 days of frozen time at an average annual rate of 20%, the conservatorship today unveiled a new proposal that would count 25% in the first two years and 20% in 2026. and 15% in 2027 and 2028.
In addition to this approach regarding the position of trade union organizations advocating a faster recovery, Minister Fernando Alexandre also left some guarantees regarding the “red lines” pointed out by the teachers’ representatives.
One of these “red lines” is related to the action of the “accelerator” of career growth, which allows teachers who suffered from two periods of career freeze to regain the time spent waiting for vacancies for the 5th and 7th echelons.
According to Mario Nogueira, the minister acknowledged that these are different times and assured that the time restored in accordance with the decree-law approved last year will not be deducted from the six years, six months and 23 days of frozen service.
On the other hand, it also ensured that teachers covered by the reinstatement of seniority would not be “stuck in vacancies” for access to the 5th and 7th levels.
However, the availability demonstrated by guardianship today has not yet been formalized in the proposal. “This was not recorded, and we need it to be recorded,” emphasized the secretary general of Fenprof.
However, Mario Nogueira says that there is still a long way to go before reaching an agreement: “It may be difficult because there is one thing that for MECI seems to be completely removed and we cannot agree with it, namely teachers who are also lost time service and will not be able to restore it.”
“And the ministry does not provide any compensation for retirement. This fines thousands of teachers,” he added.
The same problem was pointed out by the President of the Association of Licensed Teachers (ASPL), who, speaking also on behalf of Pró-Ordem and the Union of Educators and Licensed Teachers, considered it “very serious” that not all active teachers could benefit from the reinstatement of tenure.
This is because, explained Fatima Ferreira, seniority will only be taken into account for career development purposes and therefore does not apply to teachers who are already at the top of their careers or who are retiring before the process is completed.
Andre Pestana of the Union of All Education Professionals also said that MECI has “structurally very unfair problems that do not allow an agreement to be reached at this stage.”
In the afternoon, the guardianship authorities met with Fenporf and ASPL, FENEI, FEPECI, Pró-Ordem, SEPLEU, SIPE, SIPPEB, SNPL, SPLIU and Stop, while the meeting with the National Federation of Education (FNE) is still ongoing.
The next meeting is scheduled for May 21.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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