Education minister Nuno Crato’s latest manoeuvres around EC directives have infuriated teachers who are now setting their sights on Brussels. They hope EU bosses will finally force Portugal to toe the line.
Indeed, in a recent press release on infringements of Community law, the Commission declared that it “asks Portugal to stop discriminatory treatment of teachers with fixed-term contracts at public schools” (see below). But even so, the unfairness continues, claims teachers.
To side-step a two-month deadline, Crato came up with a plan at the 11th hour last week that will see 2,000 teachers be given more security by becoming “permanent staff”. The same status will be offered to those teachers on five consecutive full-time contracts.
The plan, expected to come into effect from 2015, has bought Crato ‘time’ as Brussels has now extended Portugal’s deadline by another two months – but it hasn’t endeared the minister any further with the country’s teachers.
They say the EC directive, which Portugal has been dodging since 2001, calls for teachers to be given “permanent staff status” on the basis of three consecutive full-time contracts, not five. This would mean 15,000-20,000 teachers benefiting – not the 2,000 the minister is talking about.
A disillusioned teacher who has been on successive fixed-term contracts over many years told Correio da Manhã newspaper: “It’s incredible how my 18 years as a teacher have served to mean nothing! Our only hope is to keep on at Brussels until we exhaust them.”
Another teacher Pedro Caiola explained the dilemma to journalists: “I have been a teacher for 18 years, but in the last two, due to education cuts, I haven’t been given a full time timetable. Because of this, I will not qualify under the scheme.”
Protests will almost certainly follow.
Labour law: Commission asks Portugal to stop discriminatory treatment of teachers with fixed-term contracts at public schools
The European Commission has requested Portugal to review the conditions of employment of teachers employed in public schools on fixed-term contracts.
The European Commission has received numerous complaints indicating that teachers working under fixed-term contracts are treated less favourably than comparable permanent staff.
In particular, they are being employed on successive fixed-term contracts over many years, leaving them in precarious employment even though they are essentially doing permanent tasks.
National law does not provide effective measures to prevent such abuses. Furthermore, they receive a lower salary than permanent staff with a comparable professional record. The European Commission considers this situation to be contrary to the EU’s Fixed-Term Work Directive.
The request takes the form of a ‘reasoned opinion’ under EU infringement procedures. Portugal now has two months to notify the Commission of the measures taken to ensure compliance with the Directive. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer Portugal to the EU’s Court of Justice.
