Professionals in the state education network of Rio de Janeiro are holding a 24-hour strike on Wednesday (7th) to demand a meeting to discuss the demands of the category. The list includes demands made by the union since thegovernment of Cláudio Castro (PL), but which were not met due to "lack of political will".
With the interim government led by Judge Ricardo Couto, there is an expectation for the resolution of economic and pedagogical issues for professionals. One of the points is the payment of the national minimum wage.
"We are in a negotiation and a dialogue with the interim governor Ricardo Couto, the result of all our mobilization and the political will of this governor. We have long-standing agendas, from the period of the former governor Cláudio Castro, who did not receive us, did not have political will. Today we see, through the press, where all the education funds were going," says Dorothea Santana, director of the State Union of Education Professionals of Rio (Sepe-RJ).
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Last week, the Public Prosecutor's Office carried out an operation that revealed embezzlement of education funds in the previous government. Among the targets is the former Secretary of Education of the Castro government, Roberta Barreto de Oliveira. The investigation points to the diversion of million-dollar contracts, overbilling, and the embezzlement of funds from public school construction projects.
Valuing Professionals
ToBrasil de Fato, the state school teacher explains that the negotiation between the Sepe-RJ and the interim government also raises issues that do not depend on budgetary releases, such as the absence allowance and strikes.
“These are issues that don't depend on budgets, but rather on the goodwill and speed of the Ministry of Education, with a focus on valuing its employees. These issues have been raised for a long time, but were not addressed,” she concluded.
The category is in strike and seeks to resolve, among other points, the migration of Teachers II to I, thesalary readjustment, and the payment of the national minimum wageand the situation of Cultural Animators. “In the Ricardo Couto government, we are finally having a process of speed for cultural animators who need to retire, but their functional life is not resolved, such as the update of the INSS. These are easy issues to resolve, but there was previously no political will,” Dorothea points out.
After a general assembly this morning at the Clube de Engenharia, the category will continue mobilized for a protest at the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Justice, scheduled for 2:00 PM.