Latest news and stories about labour law in education in Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal for expats and residents.
The Portuguese government, UGT, and four business confederations are meeting to negotiate a decisive agreement on new labour law reforms.
The Supreme Administrative Court (STA) ruled in favour of two scientists in appeals against the University of Lisbon, ordering the university to open public competitions for career entry once the maximum term of their fixed‑term contracts expired. Two separate rulings — including one dated 8 January concerning the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) — require competitions to be launched within 30 days at ISA and at the Faculty of Letters, overturning earlier judgments. The decisions set a legal precedent on academic precarity and fixed‑term employment, with potential implications for higher education labour practices and reform of recruitment procedures in Portuguese universities.
Research grant holders are gathering this Thursday outside the Ministry of Science. They are calling for the end of grants and their replacement with employment contracts, as is the case in other sectors.
For two weeks, Fenprof visited schools across the country to discuss issues affecting the profession. The Minister says his focus is not on responding to a trade union front.
Teachers delivered thousands of postcards to the Prime Minister's official residence containing protests collected from schools across the country. An action by FENPROF calling for the appreciation of the teaching career and investment in public education.
The judicial mandate to open recruitment processes for scientists is causing concern among universities. There have already been nine court rulings against the University of Lisbon. The Government does not foresee any increase in funding.
The FENPROF initiative begins at Jardim da Estrela with a human chain leading to the Prime Minister's residence. The federation's Secretary-General, José Costa, warns that the teacher shortage is spreading across the entire country.
Around fifty teachers from the António Arroio Artistic School in Lisbon are protesting this Tuesday, March 17, against precarious employment contracts, with a similar demonstration taking place in Porto. “António Arroio and Soares dos Reis in the same fight” is one of the signs visible today in front of the artistic school in Lisbon, where teachers of specialized visual and audiovisual arts are gathered. At issue is the precarious professional situation of about 200 teachers from the country's two artistic schools who have been teaching subjects like cinema or performing arts for years but remain without a recruitment group that would allow them to obtain permanent tenure, Fenprof secretary-general José Feliciano Costa told Lusa.
Operational assistants at EB 2,3 de Telheiras are protesting this Thursday. The team has reduced from 20 to 10 workers since 1999. Parents report “brawls”, assaults, and areas without supervision.
The Secretary of State for Education stated that the union, which held a protest during today's meetings, did not demonstrate good faith and reiterated that negotiations will not occur under pressure. Alexandre Homem Cristo explained that the government's position is to avoid negotiations when there is pressure, which they felt was present during the protest. The Sindicato de Todos os Profissionais da Educação (Stop) did not attend the negotiation meeting after the government warned it would not accept the union's presence while the protest was ongoing. The Stop decided to maintain the protest instead of participating in the meeting. The government emphasized that any disruption affecting the negotiation conditions would prevent meetings from taking place. Following this incident, the Federação Nacional dos Professores (Fenprof) refused to meet with the government regarding the teaching career statute, deeming the government's decision “absolutely unacceptable.” The government aims to introduce changes to a mechanism allowing teachers without professional qualifications to conditionally join the Ministry of Education's staff, but unions are concerned about the lack of available places in professional training courses.
One of the STA's rulings is dated 8 January and concerns the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) of the University of Lisbon.
Two rulings order the opening of competitions within 30 days at ISA and at the Faculty of Letters. The decisions overturn previous judgments and set a legal precedent on academic precarity.
The general secretary of Fenprof, José Feliciano Costa, said that first-cycle (primary) teachers and pre-school educators need parity with other teaching staff.
Participants held placards demanding 'equality in the school calendar, teachers' timetables and reductions based on seniority' in front of the Ministry of Education.
Rejecting any possibility of negotiation regarding the current labour proposal, Paulo Raimundo highlighted the precariousness of researchers and scholarship holders during a visit to the Instituto Superior Técnico.
