Teachers and non-teaching staff still demonstrate today in Lisbon

This is the third march promoted by STOP since December, which has demanded measures such as a salary increase of 120 euros for all education professionals, i.e. teachers and staff. not a teacher.

STOP is also against the proposed new model of recruitment and placement of teachers which is being negotiated with the guardianship and demands the recovery of more than six years of frozen working time during the Troika, demands shared by other unions in the sector.

The end of quotas and vacant posts for access to the 5th and 7th levels is another of the teachers' demands, to which are added demands for salary increases and better working conditions for non-teaching staff.

Today, the demonstrators will also protest against the definition announced on Friday of minimum services in schools which aim to guarantee, for example, meals for pupils or the permanence of children with special educational needs.

The Court of Arbitration has decided to set a minimum service, at the request of the government, for the indefinite strike of teachers and non-teachers, which has been going on since December. In a press release, the Ministry of Education justifies the request for a definition of minimum services by "the duration and unpredictability of the strikes decreed by STOP and the cumulative consequences for the pupils, with regard to their protection, their food and their support in vulnerable contexts”. .

STOP leader André Pestana said the best response to the decision is "participation in the march" and also felt that "the right to strike is at stake".

The march takes place between the building of the Ministry of Education and the official residence of the President of the Republic, STOP inviting other sectors of society, such as the police.

During the first march, on December 17, STOP tallied the presence of 20 demonstrators, a number greatly exceeded during the second demonstration, on January 000, when the union pointed to more than 14 people present.

The protest comes at a time of great opposition from teachers and other school workers, who have been on strike since December, with STOP already issuing strike notices for the first few days of February.

The march called by STOP was announced hours before the union coordinator was to meet with the Minister of Education, as part of the third round of negotiations on a new model for the hiring and placement of teachers, which took place terminated without an agreement.

A new demonstration is planned for February 11, this time organized by the platform of nine trade union organizations, which brings together the two largest representative structures of teachers and non-teaching staff: the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) and the National Federation of education. (FNE).

In addition to the indefinite strike called by STOP, a partial strike has been underway since the start of the 2nd term, called by the Independent Union of Teachers and Educators (SIPE), which will also last until February.

Since January 16, neighborhood strikes have taken place, called by the union platform, which only end at the beginning of February.

YES // JMR