Angola: University teachers halt strike for one month pending negotiations

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Angola: University teachers halt strike for one month pending negotiations

3:17 CAT | 05 Apr 2022

File photo: Lusa

The national union of Angolan teachers of higher education (Sinpes) announced on Tuesday that it had suspended its three-month long strike for 30 days and admitted to re-starting the strike if the authorities did not accept new salary proposals.

According to the secretary general of Sinpes, Eduardo Peres Alberto, the suspension of the strike for 30 days, from 5 April to 5 May, was decided in an assembly held last Friday in Luanda.

“At the assembly we also rejected the proposal from the president of the country for a 6 percent salary rise and approved a new proposal of 2.6 million kwanzas (5,200 euros) for full professors and 1.5 million kwanzas (3,000 euros) for trainee assistant professors,” the union official told Lusa.

The strike, which began on 3 January, is suspended for 30 days, but the university professor noted, “if the government does not meet the new salary proposal” the strike will be re-launched “for an undetermined period from 9 May”.

“And we have also suspended it in response to the students’ outcry, it’s a sign that we are not radical, it’s the State’s obligation to guarantee the well-being of those who work, hence the need for political goodwill on the part of the government,” stressed the Sinpes leader.

Salary increases, better working conditions, payment of public debt and elections for the governing bodies of public higher education institutions are some of the demands of Angolan university professors.

The secretary general of Sinpes recalled that the strike, for an indefinite period, came as a result of the “non-fulfilment” of the memorandum of understanding signed in November 2021 “by the authorities.

A salary equivalent to 2,000 dollars (1.7 thousand euros) for trainee assistant professor and 5,000 dollars (4.4 thousand euros) for full professor was Sinpes’ initial salary proposal to counter the current “mediocre salaries”.

Eduardo Peres Alberto said that the salary increase of 6 percent, proposed by the Angolan president, João Lourenço, meant that the full professor would have a net salary of 598,000 kwanzas (1,100 euros), the associate professor a net salary of 546,000 kwanzas (1,000 euros), assistant professor 514,000 kwanzas (1,000 euros) and an assistant a salary of 483,000 kwanzas (952 euros) and an intern 410,000 kwanzas (808 euros).

“Therefore, this amount is minimal because there has been no development at all,” said the official, who on 19 March led a demonstration by university professors in Luanda against non-compliance with the memorandum.

The secretary general of the union of university professors hopes that the Angolan authorities will approve their new salary proposal, “for the good of both sides”.

Source: Lusa