The All Professionals of Education Union (Stop) has called for a new strike of teachers and school staff to begin today in protest against the new regime of competitions and for the recovery of all service time.
The strike, which will last until Friday, begins roughly a week after the same union’s indefinite strike, which began at the end of last year, ended.
Teachers and non-teaching staff are contesting the new competitive examination system, which was approved by the government in March, and insisting once more on the recovery of all service time that has been frozen, as well as improvements to working conditions and salaries.
As with the previous strike, the arbitration court imposed minimum services for the stoppage of Stop so that schools could maintain a portion of their operations, including at least three hours of daily classes/teaching time per class to ensure weekly coverage of the various subjects.
In response to the successive decisions to decree minimum services, a public petition was launched in support of “a generalized action of disobedience” to the “illegal minimum services.” According to the petition’s promoter, more than three thousand signatures had been collected by Sunday.
The teachers believe that the minimum services are illegal and jeopardize their right to strike under the Constitution.
The new strike by Stop follows the April 25 national rally in support of workers’ rights and public schools.
The union will hold another strike from May 5 to May 12, coinciding with the beginning of the assessment tests.
In Portalegre, the district strike called by a coalition of nine unions, including the national federations of Education and Teachers (FNE and Fenprof), continues today.
The week-long paralysis, which has spread from Viseu to Aveiro in reverse alphabetical order, reaches its conclusion on May 12 in Lisbon.
On Monday, teachers and school employees established a camp in Rossio, Lisbon, which has since moved to Largo Cames and will remain there until May 1st.
