The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation admitted this Thursday that the Teachers’ Reimbursement Diploma excludes “thousands of teachers”, arguing that many more teachers would have benefited if it had happened “eight years ago”.
“The current restoration of seniority does not take into account thousands of teachers. If it had been held eight years ago, much more would have been included,” Fernando Alexandre told Lusa on the sidelines of a meeting marking the 45th anniversary of the Polytechnic Institute of Santarem in Rio Mayor.
Five trade union structures that did not sign the government’s proposed agreement on the phased return of six years, six months and 23 days of work experience until 2027 met this Thursday at the Ministry of Education for an additional negotiation meeting.
Fernando Alexandre said the negotiations took place “without any news,” noting that the diploma was closed and the ministry was already working on its regulation.
“The diploma is closed, we are working on regulations, the goal is to solve a problem that has existed for many years,” he said.
Following the award of the diploma, he explained, the focus is now on addressing other “issues in the education system”, namely mobility due to illness and the situation of non-teaching staff, which are “priorities” for the ministry.
“We are now working on many issues that continue to exist in our education system, in particular mobility due to illness, which was a topic raised in the first meeting we held, as well as non-teaching staff, which was not addressed in this negotiation , but that is also a priority,” he said.
Fenprof general secretary Mario Nogueira condemned minister Fernando Alexandre’s absence from the meeting and also criticized the unions that signed the agreement last month, arguing “they could have gone much further.”
Regarding the absence, the minister said there was “delegation of authority to the Secretary of State to conduct union negotiations”, stressing that this was “usual practice”.
Responding to a question about Fenprof’s decision to submit to the Assembly of the Republic a certificate of compensation for the length of service of teachers, Fernando Alexandre called this procedure “normal” and that the trade unions are “exercising their rights.”
At the end of the additional negotiation meeting, Mario Nogueira admitted that the diploma is positive for thousands of teachers, but leaves behind many others, as in the case of those in the last three levels, who “recover nothing or only part” of the time they worked.
Now Fenprof will send the diploma for “consideration in parliament to improve the project and to the ombudsman’s office with a request to check the constitutionality.”
The government, in turn, considered that this is a closed dossier; now we are moving on to publishing the diploma and its implementation.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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