The general secretary of Fenprof, Mário Nogueira, today estimated that more than 150.000 people participated in the teachers' demonstration in Lisbon, the “biggest ever” in the country.
“Today we are pointing out, without fear of being wrong, to say that in the streets, [among] teachers, families and supportive people, this demonstration had more than 150.000 walking down Avenida [da Liberdade]”, said the secretary general of the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), in the closing speech of the protest, in Terreiro do Paço.
The union leader said that this was “probably” the “biggest demonstration ever of teachers and educators in Portugal”.
According to the organization, when the first demonstrators began to arrive at Terreiro do Paço, the last ones had not yet left Marquês de Pombal.
The general secretary of CGTP-IN, Isabel Camarinha, was also present at the protest and, speaking to journalists on her way to Terreiro do Paço, underlined that, “at each meeting with the Ministry [of Education] teachers are coming in even greater numbers to the struggle, to the demonstrations, to the strike”.
“Whatever the options change, the Government has to realize that it cannot go after certain accounts, leaving the public school, health and a set of services that the State has to guarantee are losing quality, that there is a disinvestment and underfinancing on account of certain accounts that are only certain accounts for the great powers of the European Union, are not certain accounts for the Portuguese, for the development of our country”, considered the union leader.
Teachers took part again today in yet another national demonstration, in Lisbon, convened by Fenprof, but also with the participation of the National Education Federation (FNE) and seven other trade union organizations, as well as the Association of Armed Forces Officers and representatives from PSP.
The Union of All Education Professionals (STOP), which still has a strike going on in schools, is not part of the organizers, but has already announced that it will be present.
The last two major demonstrations in Lisbon took place in January and were organized by STOP, taking thousands of teachers to the streets to shout for “Respect” and “Better Working Conditions”.
At the beginning of the school year, the tutelage decided to initiate a negotiation process to review the model for hiring and placing teachers, but some proposals left teachers angry, as was the case with the possibility of directors being able to choose part of their team.
Since then, negotiations between unions and the ministry have taken place in an environment of strong opposition, with teachers carrying out strikes and demonstrations.
Outside the negotiating agenda, there are claims that professors say they will not abandon, such as the recovery of service time or the career advancements that professors have.
The union platform that organized today's protest promised that at the end of the demonstration future protest actions will be presented.
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