Without the right to subsidies, teachers Catarina and Sónia (fictitious names) told Lusa that they face several difficulties, especially the cost of living, especially in Luanda.
"The issue here at EPL is the salary issue, that is, we have several groups of teachers and we do not have equity between the salaries that are paid within various groups", stated Professor Catarina, remembering that the situation has been dragging on since September 2024 (start of the school year).
The EPL has teachers with statutory mobility, with benefits and salaries paid in Portugal, teachers from the residual staff of the former management, with salaries and allowances paid in Luanda, and contracted teachers, with salaries "in even worse conditions", she said.
Catarina and Sónia are in the group of 23 teachers who are already part of the staff, without the right to any subsidy.
"We became permanent employees this year, and we are not entitled to any subsidy, we receive our entire salary here and, at this moment, we are having some difficulties in dealing with the cost of living in Luanda here," she said.
And she added: "What we are looking for is a sense of equity here within the school, obviously we are not all in the same situation, because our careers are not simultaneous (...). There cannot be these disparities within an institution", she lamented.
Sónia assured that teachers in this situation do not rule out the possibility of going on strike, saying that their monthly pay is below the salary scale of the Portuguese Ministry of Education in the first bracket [1657 euros].
"A strike is not out of the question, but there are still no certainties and nothing has been determined at this time. However, this possibility is on the table," she said, adding that they have been waiting for responses from Portugal since September 2024.
Catarina considered, on the other hand, that this group of teachers is even considering returning to Portugal "if their situation is not resolved with some speed", recalling that her colleagues linked this year to Portuguese schools in Mozambique and East Timor are all under different salary conditions.
"We even know that there are colleagues in Mozambique who have not paid into social security and there are situations here [in Luanda] that require closer attention and that they look out for us," concluded the Portuguese teacher.
Last year, the Portuguese School of Luanda and a group of 17 teachers signed an agreement to end a labor dispute, after the Ministry of Education recognized the justice of the claims.
The parties reached an out-of-court settlement on October 24, after another agreement related to a lawsuit filed by another group of eight teachers was approved by the competent legal authorities, according to the EPL.
The institution said that the teachers "are seeing their rights reinstated, following the complaints made, with the school paying the corresponding retroactive amounts" and that the Ministry of Education recognized the justice of the demands, which is why it decided to also pay retroactive amounts to other teachers at the school who had not filed any legal action against the institution, but whose rights had been affected.
The agreement was reached following a legal dispute that led to the seizure of EPL's accounts in June to pay a debt associated with salary settlements, after an Angolan court ruled in favor of teachers who had a labor dispute with the school.
The EPL, created in the 1980s, was managed by the Portuguese Teaching Cooperative in Angola (CPEA) until 2021, but as of September 7, 2021, it began to be managed by the Portuguese Ministry of Education, after a dispute with some cooperators.
The Portuguese Ministry of Education had overseen the institution since 2006, although the school was administered by a private entity that had a management contract with the State.
When the CPEA administration was transferred to the Portuguese State, there was no transfer of the teachers' employment relationship and, in order to continue teaching, they had to sign a new contract, but at the same time losing benefits and remuneration, which the majority accepted.
However, several teachers decided to go to court to assert their rights.
