Union accuses school of harassing teachers, but school says unacceptable practices

The Union of All Education Professionals (STOP) demonstrated this Thursday at the entrance to a private school in Coimbra, accusing two teachers of harassment, while the establishment accuses the teachers of “ethically unacceptable behavior”.

“We have reports that two teachers at the Colégio St. Paul was replaced without any serious and reasonable grounds,” accused the union coordinator in front of the school along with about a dozen protesters.

In a conversation with Lusa, Andre Pestana explained that the institution had stripped one teacher of her duties, transferring her to the library without any duties, and transferring another to a leisure center in Miranda do Corvo, more than 30 kilometers away, without teaching. .

According to the union leader, both teachers were transferred to other positions because they refused to agree to terminate their employment contracts.

The school initially wanted to terminate the employment contract without any compensation, and then offered compensation of only 500 euros.

“The reason was that they did not correspond to the profile of the school, which is unknown and which, apparently, has a clear ideological content,” he added.

According to the union leader, those in charge of the school then decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings against one of the teachers “in order to stop the attempt to put pressure on the termination of the contract.”

“The employer’s conduct is clearly unlawful because it violates contractual provisions relating to the functions performed, the rules of legal transfer and a violation of the right to effective employment,” he said.

In his opinion, this whole situation puts teachers in an “unfortunate and even humiliating position”, damaging their physical and mental health.

“This behavior, if it persists, may even indicate serious harassment in the workplace. In other words, these workers, if dismissed, will have to be paid until the end of their contract, in addition to the fact that the law also provides for the right to compensation for the expiration of the contract,” they said.

In a conversation with Lusa, St. Paul’s school officials emphasized that it is a private school “with excellent and rigorous teaching” and that it pays all staff above the table.

“Unfortunately, a pair of two teachers, a man and a woman, demonstrated unacceptable disciplinary behavior,” he complained.

The email, signed by private school administrator Jaime Ramos, said the teacher in question used profanity to address a student in class and destroyed students’ work in another subject.

At a class council meeting, the teacher stated that he had “refused to teach students who were not what he wanted.”

“We believe that such behavior is ethically unacceptable and demonstrates unprofessionalism, which requires disciplinary proceedings leading to dismissal. We regret that the union, instead of promoting the prestige and professional competence of teachers, focuses on protecting poor teachers,” he concluded. .