Strike at USP: students decide to maintain the strike – 10/18/2023 – Education

In an assembly held on Wednesday night (18) in the open space of the Polytechnic School, exactly one month after the start of the strike over the shortage of teachers at USP (University of São Paulo), the collectives of the university’s student movement did not reach a consensus and the strike continues.

In the vote at the end of the meeting, 388 votes were for the continuation of the strike, 215 for a change and there were 15 abstentions. This Thursday (19), representatives from EACH (School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities), at USP Leste, will hold an assembly to present the points discussed this Wednesday at the general assembly.

In addition to hiring teachers, strikers are calling for an increase in student retention assistance, structural improvements at USP Leste, promotion of indigenous entrance exams and appreciation of student rights.

The movement was started by students from FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Literature and Human Sciences) and reached other units in the city of São Paulo. In some of them, pickets and attempts were made to prevent classes from taking place.

At first, the rectory refused to negotiate with the strikers, but on the 4th it presented a list of proposals. The main one would be the hiring of 148 temporary teachers, to be distributed to the most needy courses by the end of this year.

The rectory’s proposals are:

• Hiring 1,027 new teachers, 879 of which were already part of the university’s hiring policy and 148 new vacancies that will be distributed according to the losses occurred in each unit in 2022;
• Automatic replacement of dismissed teachers;
• No course will be closed due to lack of teachers;
• Creation of the Indigenous Access Commission;
• Standardization of meal supply on trays;
• Distribution of PUB scholarships (Unified Scholarship Program) not included this year;
• Reanalysis of denied requests for student living assistance;
• Construction of a daycare building for USP Leste.

Last Friday (6), students from the USP Polytechnic School approved the end of the strike at the unit through an approved plebiscite and were the first to leave the strike. Half of the almost 5,000 registered voters voted. There were 1,214 against the continuation of the strike, 1,129 in favor and 71 abstentions.

Three days later, 139 teachers from FEA (Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting) released a letter asking for an end to the strike and the resumption of classes at the unit. The text of the petition recognized the teacher shortage affecting the university, but called for classes to resume as soon as possible.

In an assembly last Wednesday (11), the majority of students decided to maintain the strike. However, Poli (Polytechnic School), FEA (Faculty of Economics, Administration, Accounting and Actuarial Science) and Faculty of Law, in Largo de São Francisco, abandoned the strike.

A Sheet showed that USP has increased, over the last two decades, the number of students enrolled without guaranteeing the same pace in hiring teachers. Thus, the ratio of teacher to student decreased by 28% in the period.