In a context of attacks on workers' rights, education professionals from different public networks across the country are leading important mobilizations throughout the first semester of 2024. From basic education to higher education, workers have engaged in building struggles whose demands mainly concern salary adjustments (to compensate for inflationary losses in recent years), better working conditions, and the enhancement or restructuring of career plans.
In the city of São Paulo, education professionals from the municipal network went on strike between March 8th and 28th. Together with municipal employees, education workers brought forward their salary campaign, demanding a 39% increase to compensate for accumulated inflation, as well as defending their career plan and improving working conditions. Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), a representative of the business sector and an ally of Bolsonaro, demonstrated his intransigence and contempt for workers: together with his base in the City Council, he imposed a readjustment of only 2.16%, attempting to blackmail the category with the adoption of a subsidy policy - which destroys the career plan. Bureaucratic disputes established by the union leadership between the Coeduc bloc (Sedin, Sinesp and Sinpeem) and the Forum of Entities (led by Sindsep and Aprofem) weighed negatively on education professionals. The first bloc defended a corporatist approach, separating education from other categories - therefore, breaking with class unity.
Due to difficulties imposed by the union bureaucracy itself, the demonstrations had little practical impact in the city, and members of the leadership sought to direct the struggle towards the municipal electoral process - even launching candidates. The Regional Strike Committees, however, once again played an important role in the mobilization, visiting schools and fostering the participation of a category that demonstrated a willingness to fight. In practice, the Regional Committees are a fundamental instrument for the most combative sectors of the category, who refuse to be limited by the authoritarianism and retreat of union bureaucracies and encourage greater participation of the rank and file in union activities.
In Bauru, in the interior of São Paulo state, education workers mobilized in February, demanding compliance with the Minimum Wage for Teachers, as well as the release of one-third of their Basic Workload without direct interaction with students - something stipulated in the Minimum Wage Law for Teachers and which the city hall failed to comply with in a text sent to the City Council. Mayor Suéllen Rosim (PSD), also a Bolsonaro supporter and representative of the business sector, refused to negotiate with the category, appealing to the judiciary to ensure that 70% of the school staff were operational - a request that was granted by the judges. Education workers in the São Paulo state school system are also mobilizing: on March 15th, a work stoppage with an assembly was held - with a new stoppage planned for April 26th, indicating a potential strike. The list of demands includes, among other points, a salary adjustment with the application of the national minimum wage to the base salary; job security, rights, fair assignments and salaries for temporary teachers; the hiring of those who passed the competitive exam; and opposition to the New High School Curriculum (NEM).
In the municipal school system of Belo Horizonte (MG), also in February, striking education professionals also faced intransigence from the mayor Fuad Noman (PSD) and the judiciary, which imposed a daily fine of R$ 100,000 on Sindrede (the teachers' union). In the last assembly, workers defended constant mobilization in favor of their careers, the appreciation of public servants, and public education. With the end of the strike, they accepted the proposal of an 8.04% adjustment in three installments: 4.03% in August; 1.82% in November and 2% in December. Also in Minas Gerais, the state network held a 48-hour strike in March, with significant participation. The workers demanded the payment of the minimum wage (R$ 4,580.57) and the overturning of Governor Romeu Zema's (Novo) veto of the bill that extended health assistance from the state's Social Security Institute (Ipsemg) to civil servants who retired under the general regime (RGPS).
In southern Brazil, the education sector also mobilized. In Santa Catarina, state education professionals approved an indefinite strike starting April 23rd. The movement is a tool to pressure the government of Jorginho Mello (PL) to address their demands, which include salary increases; the repeal of the 14% pension confiscation; and guaranteed activity hours for teachers in the early years and second teachers. In Paraná, teachers from the municipal network of Almirante Tamandaré, along with other municipal employees, approved a state of strike in April. Education professionals, as in many other regions, are also demanding the payment of the minimum wage.
In the Northeast, the campaigns of education professionals reached several states. In Pernambuco, Sintepe called on the state network to strike on March 13th and 19th, with the following agenda items: compliance with the minimum wage; reformulation of the Career, Positions and Remuneration Plans (PCCR); Direct elections for school principals. In Sergipe, education workers went on strike on March 22nd, organizing a march to defend and value the teaching profession and to oppose the privatization of the Sergipe Sanitation Company (DESO). There was also a specific strike in Aracaju (SE) at the beginning of the month. In Paraíba, also on March 22nd, the state school system went on strike demanding a salary adjustment above inflation; updating of the Career Plan, Positions and Salaries (PCCR); public service examinations; and improvements in working conditions.
The municipal school system of Fortaleza (CE) mobilized between January and February with successive strikes and large demonstrations. Education professionals secured a 4.62% raise, incorporation of 5.5% of the classroom teaching allowance into the base salary, and a 10% increase in the food allowance. In an assembly on February 7th, the category decided to create strategies to continue the struggle throughout the year, developing a calendar of mobilizations. In Crato (Ceará), teachers held a strike on March 14th demanding salary increases and improved working conditions.
Also in Ceará, education professionals in the state network revolted against actions by the leadership of the Apeoc union (Union of Public Servants of the Education Secretariats of the Municipalities of Ceará), which leaned towards accepting the proposals of the Elmano de Freitas (PT) government without allowing the category to discuss the construction of a strike. The assembly on April 4th, in Fortaleza, was closed by the union bureaucracy without a vote on a general strike, which provoked a strong reaction from the category, who even threw chairs at members of the union leadership.
It is fundamental to emphasize the importance of education professionals, regardless of the network or region of the country, demanding the true democratization of unions (their instruments of struggle), strengthening the base and combating personalistic and bureaucratizing projects that seek to hinder class autonomy and independence.
(Text originally published in Libera 180 (June-August 2024)).
https://socialismolibertario.net/educacao-de-luta-educacao-em-luta/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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