Strike: municipal teachers stop due to readjustment – 03/14/2024 – Education

Teachers from the São Paulo municipal network went on strike this Thursday (14) to demand a salary increase and improvements in career progression and working conditions. The management of Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) defends an adjustment of 2.16% in the category’s floor.

According to the unions, around 20% of teachers joined the strike. The municipal network has around 72 thousand teachers, who teach over 741 thousand students.

City hall says that the strike affects only 3% of the city’s approximately 1,500 schools.

In addition to the adjustment, the category defends the end of subsidy payments. Currently, those who earn above the minimum receive additional amounts through this regime, that is, these amounts are not incorporated into salaries or used to calculate retirement.

One of the teachers’ demands is that 39% of the amount, which is currently paid as a supplementary bonus to the minimum wage, be incorporated into salaries.

“This policy of paying the teacher with a subsidy is a policy of devaluation. The teacher has no possibility of progressing in his career, he is not guaranteed the right to have increases incorporated into his salary”, says Claudio Fonseca, president of Sinpeem (Sindicato dos Profissionais in Education in Municipal Education).

They also demand that the city hall change the rules of the pension reform, which increased the contribution of retirees to 14% on the amount that exceeds the teaching minimum — previously the charge was made on top of the INSS ceiling.

Teachers also demand better working conditions, especially with regard to special education for students with disabilities. According to professionals, schools are experiencing an increase in cases of children diagnosed with disorders, but they do not receive support to deal with this new reality.

“The inclusion of these children is progress, but it is happening without any support. Schools suffer from a lack of specialized human resources and support for teachers. We have units with 20 students with disorders and no specialized support for this”, says Claudio .

Norma Lúcia dos Santos, president of Sinesp (Union of Education Specialists for Municipal Public Education in São Paulo), points out that the lack of adequate resources for special education has overloaded teachers.

“Teachers want to do a good job of inclusion, to ensure that all children are learning and developing, but they don’t have the right conditions. This is exhausting, demotivating and sickening,” said Norma.

A survey carried out by the unions, with data from the municipal secretariat, shows that around 8,000 teachers in the network, or 11%, are working as readapted teachers in schools. This is the condition of teachers who are reassigned to a new position, usually in the administrative area, due to limitations acquired due to health problems.

“The number of teachers who are sick is an alarming indication of the precarious teaching conditions in São Paulo. In addition to the readapted teachers, we still have a flood of sick leaves from those who continue in the classroom”, says Norma.

In a note, São Paulo City Hall reported that it proposed a 2.16% increase for all municipal employees. “[Valor] which considers inflation measured in the period of May/2023 and February/2024 and also includes food vouchers and meal allowances”, he said in a note.

For teachers who receive the minimum salary, the city hall’s proposal was 3.62%. Nunes’ management also says that it proposed “anticipating the payment date of the Educational Performance Award (PDE) intended for the area of ​​education”.

Regarding teachers’ demands for better working conditions, especially regarding special education, the city hall did not respond. He just said that “he maintains constant dialogue with representatives of trade unions to listen to their agendas and all requests are answered at the negotiation tables.”