This Wednesday, Angolan teachers started a general strike that will last until the 30th of this month, demanding answers to questions in the claim book, delivered three years ago to the Ministry of Education, a trade union source told Lusa.
According to the secretary general of the National Union of Teachers (Sinprof), the level of adhesion is 100%, confirming the suspension of classes in, at least, all schools in the city center of Luanda.
“The level of adhesion is 100%, there are no classes at all”, said Admar Jinguma, stressing that in the last two days there was no contact with the Ministry of Education.
“The ministry preferred to lie, as a way of demobilizing them [teachers], who became aware of the strike via social networks, which is not true,” he added.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry said it had become aware of the strike through social media and that it has already answered 7 of the 10 points of the claim book, appealing to Sinprof’s “good sense” in the sense of reviewing its position.”
The Secretary General of Sinprof, for his part, expressed openness to dialogue with the employer.
“That’s why we initially set out for an interpolated strike, we are open to dialogue, at any time, at any time of day, that the government calls us, we will not hesitate, we will go there to hear what guarantees they have to get around the situation,” he stressed.
Admar Jinguma presents another version of the response to union demands, noting that the claim book was delivered three years ago and since then negotiations on the demands made have not advanced, namely in terms of remuneration and subsidies.
Isolation allowances, a reduction in the Labor Income Tax (IRT) and the issue of single-teaching regulation are some of the issues in the claim book, he said.
The unionist pointed out that the law gives only 21 days to negotiate a claim book, but they have been in negotiation for three years.
For the union, if the resolution of the demands depended only on the Ministry, some of the problems could already be solved.
“Because of the will that Minister Grilo has expressed, maybe we would have another approach to the strike, but as these issues, especially the remuneration issues, depend on the competition of other ministerial departments, these are often not very sensitive to these issues that we demand,” he said.
With the suspension of classes, about 11 million primary and secondary school students are affected across the country.
The Angolan Minister of Education, Luísa Grilo, on Tuesday asked for “a careful consideration and vote of confidence” for general education teachers, guaranteeing that the executive is working to resolve their claims.
“The executive is working to respond to the concerns raised, some of them have already been resolved, others are in the process of being resolved, and so I would appeal to my colleagues for some consideration, a vote of confidence, because we are working to resolve the their claims,” said the minister.
Luísa Grilo, who was speaking in Zaire province, northern Angola, where she presided over the National Educator’s Day, said that the body she directs has not yet received written information regarding the national teachers’ strike.
“We listened effectively, but we continued to talk with our union partners, on Friday we met with the union to find mechanisms for permanent dialogue, on the one hand, and on the other hand, to find solutions that serve both sides, but we said that we are open to dialogue,” said the minister.
The ministry’s statement says that there are only three points in the claim book in progress, namely mono-teaching, school lunches and promotions, issues that involve other ministries.
As for the dignification of the teacher for the appreciation of the time of service, the last phase is underway, which will be completed in January 2023, according to the schedule prepared in light of the memorandum, the ministry said.
With information from Notícias ao Minuto
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