Teachers at the Portuguese School of Mozambique threaten to strike over salary disparities

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Teachers at the Portuguese School of Mozambique threaten to strike over salary disparities

4:40 CAT | 03 Mar 2025

File photo: RTP

Teachers from the Portuguese School of Mozambique (EPM) today demanded salary disparities and equal working conditions with professionals on mobility, admitting to resorting to strike to demand the same rights.

“Professionals with the same qualification requirements are placed side by side to perform the same functions in public service in the Portuguese state, with some having fair rights and financial subsidies and others not receiving any tangible benefit for their effort to travel from their country of origin, and still having to assume a great financial loss due to the increased cost of living in these countries compared to Portugal”, said Mafalda Braz, a professor at EPM, in statements to Lusa.

Those teachers have been part of the EPM staff since September 2024, but their employment relationship has kept them in a “precarious” situation, indicating that they earn the same salary as in Portugal without “fair” financial compensation, unlike what happens with teachers on a mobility basis who teach at the same school.

The teachers of the board claim accommodation and health insurance subsidies, paid by 50% for themselves and their households, noting that the “promises of equity” to Portuguese teachers are still in question the different working conditions and salary between teachers in the EPM framework in relation to the mobility regime, in which professionals, among others, require the regularization of their contracts, including registration and consequent discounts disagreements Social. “Portuguese teachers, displaced from their country of origin to teach in the EPM and often with added responsibilities in relation to mobility, only have their right to their base due, according to the level in which they are 50% in health insurance,” said Antero Ribeiro, a teacher of that school, is a problem that has been a problem in the competition for new years in the competition, after new years in the competition, after introduction of new rules in the competition of new rules in the competition From teachers to mainland Portugal, in which Portuguese teachers, hired in Portuguese schools abroad, failed to be able to effect and enter the teaching career.

“These teachers, who have been seriously harmed by the technical-political error made nine years ago, which excluded them from the ‘brake norm’, in good faith, deserve a public apology and compensation for the clear professional and financial losses they have suffered during these nine years”, said Mafalda Braz, a teacher for seven years at EPM, defending the demand for the “reestablishment of equality with their peers” which, however, she said, has not materialized, even after the signing of indefinite-term contracts, since last September.

“In theory, it is difficult to find reasons that justify these repeated insults to a group of teachers in Portuguese Schools Abroad (…) It is clear that the only obvious solution is to equalize the contractual conditions of teachers recruited by different regimes”, added Mafalda Braz.

Faced with complaints described as “unfair and unbearable”, EPM teachers are considering going on strike, which would consist of a complete halt to activities if a solution is not found.

“The situation will be analyzed by colleagues at the moment, but if it happens, it will imply the suspension of academic activities. This is something we deeply regret and have always avoided throughout these nine years of fighting for equality, but we have reached a limit”, concluded Antero Ribeiro.

EPM, founded in 1999, is owned by the Portuguese State and began operating in the 1999-2000 academic year.

Teachers at the Portuguese School in Luanda who are in these conditions went on strike last week and their colleagues in Dili held a protest on Wednesday, with the same demands.

Lusa tried, without success, to get a reaction from the Ministry of Education to these demands.

Source: Lusa