The Ministry of Education said it had the legitimacy to ask that they be fixed minimum services for school strikesincluding for the work of non-teaching staff, whose service is distributed by school directors.
The clarification of the guardianship comes after the City Council of Setúbal defended that the minimum services enacted for the strike called by the Union of All Education Professionals (Stop) do not apply to operational assistants, employees of the municipality since April.
“Our understanding is that, when there is room for the provision of minimum services, employers have to be called upon to negotiate. The Câmara de Setúbal is, at the moment, the employer of 536 workers who came from schools, but was not heard by the arbitration college”, said the councilor for Housing in the Chamber of Setúbal, Carla Guerreiro (CDU).
Questioned about the position of the autarchy, the office of the Minister of Education explained that, despite the decentralization process, school directors maintain a set of powers over non-teaching workers.
Specifically, and in accordance with the decree-law that implements the framework for transferring powers to municipal bodies in Education, it is the directors’ responsibility to manage, set working hours and distribute services.
“From this results the legitimacy of the Ministry of Education to request the setting of minimum services, given the need to ensure the functioning of schools and the protection of the rights of students and households”, says the guardianship in a written response sent to Lusa.
Since the beginning of February, schools have to guarantee minimum services, for arbitration court decision following a request from the Ministry of Education for an indefinite strike by the Stop, which has been going on since December.
As the union presents new strike notices, the Ministry of Education once again requests the setting of minimum services, which have been successively extended.
Initially, the minimum services covered only non-teaching staff and support for students who benefit from additional measures within the scope of inclusive education, therapeutic support, support for students in vulnerable situations, reception of students in the units integrated in the Learning Support Centers and the continuity of measures aimed at socio-emotional well-being.
Meanwhile, they were also extended to classes, with at least three hours of classes in pre-school and 1st cycles foreseen, as well as three daily teaching periods per class in 2nd and 3rd cycles and secondary education, in order to guarantee weekly coverage of the different disciplines.
