The University of Algarve asked for the reassessment of the integration requests made by 19 researchers from the institution with precarious contracts, after having approved, at first, the signing of permanent contracts with these workers. A decision that was contested today by dozens of scholarship holders and professors from the institution, in a demonstration that took place in front of the UAlg Rectory.
Tomorrow, at the request of the UAlg rector, the processes of 19 researchers from the institution, from different areas, who competed in the PREVPAP program for the regularization of precarious ties in the Public Service, and who, at first, saw their requests approved unanimously.
«These applications are validated by the famous Bipartite Evaluation Committees (CAB), which include the rectors, the heads of institutions. In the case of the meeting in which our processes were evaluated, which took place on January 5, 2018, the UAlg rector voted in favor of integrating 50 general career workers and 19 researchers into the careers", he explained to Sul Informação Sandra Boto, the representative of UAlg investigators with precarious ties.
At the committee meeting, 69 processes were approved. «In the case of colleagues from general careers, in November they received notification of the approval of their situations. We, the investigators, never received this notification, despite knowing that we were, in fact, validated in that meeting», added the researcher.
Meanwhile, the UAlg rector “changed his opinion” and sent a letter to the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education “requesting the non-approval of opinions and the review of the processes”.
This is precisely what will happen tomorrow, in Lisbon, at a new CAB meeting, a structure where "the dean of each institution, union structures and representatives of the Ministries of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Finance and Labor and Social Security" are seated. .
«The outcome that we foresee is, obviously, that our processes will go backwards and will be negatively re-evaluated for the workers», believes Sandra Boto.
It is that, despite the vote being by simple majority, "what is usual is for the ministries to align with the position of the Higher Education Institution".
The 19 researchers who will see their requests re-evaluated tomorrow had strong support from other researchers and professors from the University of Algarve in the protest they held today in front of the institution's Rectory. But there were those who came from further afield to join the fight.
This was the case of Sandra Pereira, president of the Association of Scientific Research Fellows (ABIC), who spoke alongside her colleagues in the Algarve.
As the national representative of research fellows emphasized in statements to the Sul Informação, the reassessment had already been attempted by the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), «but CAB said it would not reassess the processes, as it had already deliberated on these cases».
In the case of UAlg, “no justification has yet been given and the case has been referred back to the committee”.
“Let's see what happens tomorrow and see if everyone at CAB also has this attitude. In my view, it will be important to see how the Government behaves tomorrow, through its different ministries. If the dean wants to go back with what he had deliberated before, it is his decision and his act will remain with him», considered Sandra Pereira.
José Moreira, professor at UAlg and leader of the National Union for Higher Education (Snesup), a structure that helped organize the protest, is surprised by the whole process.
“For us it is a very strange sign what will happen tomorrow. We knew what the dean's intention was, that he wanted the non-approval, and the minister, apparently, did an unprecedented thing, which was to have the joint committee meet again», he said.
For the union leader, "if the process is reversed, it seems that all this makes no sense, because we can change decisions without the objective conditions having changed".
André Carmo, from Fenprof, is also waiting to see what will happen. "Upon the outcome of tomorrow's meeting, it is necessary to consider the hypotheses that remain open, given that it is important to clarify the legal issues - what was done to justify the reconsideration, in CAB, of these 19 requests that had been already unanimously approved'.
“Then, it is necessary to understand whether or not there is any reasoning for non-approval. We need to have more information to decide what to do," said the Fenprof representative to Sul Informação.
Sandra Boto, who has no doubts that CAB will decide to reverse the original decision, already knows what UAlg's precarious will do next.
“From here, we will have to wait for the approval notifications. We have already sent an official application requesting the minutes of that meeting in which our requests were validated. Afterwards, we will certainly go to court action,” he said.
André Carmo said, for his part, that "the legal path is always open, but it is important that these colleagues remain organized and that, eventually, they think about intensifying or starting new forms of struggle to put pressure on the ministries involved."
And support should not be lacking to the precarious UAlg investigators, as they received guarantees from the various entities present that they will be able to count on them in future struggles.
O South Informationo asked the University of Algarve about the reasons that led to this request for reassessment, but Paulo Águas, dean of the institution, did not want to make any statement, as it is "an ongoing process" and dependent on voting, that the person in charge maximum by the Algarve academy «does not want to influence».
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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