Portugal: National Demonstration on 23 March

In the lead-up to the large national demonstration of teachers and educators on 23 March 2019 in Lisbon, ETUCE once again confirms its support and  strong solidarity with all its member organisations in Portugal.

The education trade unions stated that the State Budget Law no. 36/2019 published on 15 March 2019 implies the recovery to teachers of only 2 years, 9 months and 18 days of the frozen service time despite wide criticism. Furthermore, taking into account teachers’ pay scale grouping, this law entails an unequal distribution of recovery time for the frozen service.

Sharing Portuguese member organisations’ discontent, on behalf of ETUCE, Susan Flocken, ETUCE European Director said, “Teachers in Portugal demand concrete and tangible improvements. They should not be punished and suffer unfair treatment for having provided quality service during times of recession and budget cuts in education. We support FNE, FENPROF and SINDEP in their demand to the Portuguese government to stop making small concessions and commit to an important step in investing in teaching staff and quality education”.