UFF students complain about the lack of food and declare support for the strike

Students from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) who are part of the Central Student Directory (DCE) complained about the strike at the University Restaurant (RU) and declared support for the strike by the institution’s employees.

The employees are demanding salary adjustments, budget adjustments and restructuring of the Career Plan, all of which have been denied, to date, by the Lula government.

During a meeting held this Thursday (21), the UFF Teachers’ Association / Andes-SN Union Section (Aduff/SSind) approved a strike indication for the first half of 2024, with no date yet defined. The servers have been down since March 11th.

At the assembly, according to a statement from Aduff/SSind, the employees highlighted the “intensification of the mobilization of teachers, together with the academic community and with all federal employees, in confronting demobilization, emptying and precarious conditions of work and study at university and in the fight for salary recovery and career restructuring”.

At the end of the union assembly, DCE representatives reinforced a call for a student assembly to debate the topic, which should take place on March 26th. Students also complain about the stoppage of services at the University Restaurant (RU).

“We are suffering from the neglect of the rectory. No alternative was offered after the bandejão workers decided to strike. We know how essential the trayejão is for us students and we also continue this dialogue so that we do not go without eating in Niterói and in the interior”, the students said in a post on social media.

“UFF’s budget situation is serious! This year’s budget had a cut of R$7 million and blocked R$8 million in student assistance. It is urgent that we mobilize to change this reality”, say DCE activists in another publication.

Wanted by People’s Gazettethe UFF reported that in the meeting on March 11th with the UFF Education Workers Union (Sintuff) and the Local Strike Command (CLG), the Rectory highlighted the “importance of ensuring essential services in the area of ​​student assistance, health care, payment of assistance in people management, compliance with legal demands, among others, described in the Strike Law”.

According to the UFF, at the second meeting, on March 14, “there was an agreement on a large part of the essential services”, including those offered by the Hospital Universitário Antônio Pedro (Huap) and the Restaurante Universitário (RU).

“The UFF administration reinforces its understanding regarding the essential nature of food supply in the UK and there was agreement to return with a new proposal in the Assembly so that the technical staff can discuss the possibility of providing the service in at least one shift of class”, said the university about the progress of negotiations until March 14th.

On March 19, one day after classes began at UFF, DCE activists said that, despite the strike having been declared since March 11, “the rectory did not guarantee any form of food for the students” .

“Our university is at risk of closing and we are the ones most affected who are without a scholarship, without a free pass, without food and without the right to enter and remain at the University”, said a DCE representative when highlighting the blocking of funds and the millionaire cut promoted by the Lula government in the UFF budget.

Other side

A UFF student, who is not linked to the DCE and whose identity will be kept confidential, contacted the People’s Gazette to inform that “the majority of students” are against the strike and that the DCE “has not effectively represented the opinion of UFF students”.