What are Portugal's teachers striking for?
Teachers in Portugal have been on strike since December. They are demanding permanent jobs, higher pay grades and more investment in schools. The protest is expected to continue throughout January. Commentators voice their sympathy.
Good teaching not possible under these conditions
In Expresso's view, the situation of teachers has become intolerable:
“The government has been in office for seven years, but teachers were ignored, proletarianised, ridiculed and dropped from the priority list for many years before that. ... Obtaining a permanent position is an absolute exception and is tantamount to a masterstroke. Every year, teachers might find themselves teaching 200 kilometres or more away from the school where they were originally posted. They have no home (without being digital nomads). They are like travelling salesmen, still expected to teach our children and grandchildren while having to process endless bureaucratic paperwork.”
A pillar of democracy
Political scientist André Freire supports the strikers' demands in Público:
“A good quality state school is an essential pillar of democracy. Because it is not selective but inclusive, and because it does not proselytise for one religion or another and is pluralistic in ideological, religious and political terms. It is therefore essential to have well-paid teachers in state schools who have job security and a career with real opportunities for advancement.”
New trade union opening society's eyes
Since the teachers emancipated themselves from the communist-influenced union Fenprof they are receiving broader support, Observador notes:
“The traditional teachers' union Fenprof always focused on salaries, thus adding to the lack of respect for teachers among other Portuguese. ... It was only when teachers began to speak out independently of the Fenprof discourse, and with the new STOP union, that people began to understand that they were not just fighting for the salary they were entitled to. They were and are fighting for education, and especially for the right to education of those with less income.”