Speaking to Lusa in Luanda, on the sidelines of the Portugal Day celebrations, Fernando Alexandre said that the agreement between the EPL's lawyer and the teachers' lawyer was reached last Friday, and "that largely complies with what the court determined to compensate teachers for the salary difference they had in the cooperative and what they would have from September 1, 2022".
Last week, Lusa reported that the district court of Belas (Luanda) had ordered the seizure of EPL's accounts to pay a debt associated with the sentence that, last year, ruled in favor of teachers who had a labor dispute with the school.
At stake are values relating to salary adjustments from September 2022 to April this year, as the EPL was ordered to assume the "rights and obligations" of the employment contracts of ten teachers who complained of "irregular dismissal" and subsequent signing of "illicit" agreement.
He said that "the situation was not well managed" since "it was the teachers who built this school and I believe that there should have been a negotiation process for its inclusion in a new regime".
He stressed that the cooperative "failed" and the person who guaranteed the normal functioning of the school, with 2100 students (the largest abroad) was the school's management.
"It has operated normally despite this dispute, but it was important to guarantee conditions for the 70 teachers who moved from the cooperative to the EPL on equal terms with other colleagues who are on mobility in Portugal", he highlighted.
The legal settlement for the ten teachers is valued at 215 thousand euros, with conditions being negotiated with the rest.
Last week, the weekly newspaper Novo Jornal reported that another group of 17 teachers took legal action against the EPL.
"It is very important to guarantee the stability of the school, there is no school that functions well in a situation of conflict with teachers", he highlighted.
He also said that a special competition was opened to allow these teachers to enter the career with the conditions they have" and that "schools must treat teachers well".
The EPL, created in the 1980s, was until 2021 managed by the Cooperativa Portuguesa de Ensino em Angola (CPEA), but from 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 supervised the institution since 2006, although the school was managed by a private entity that had a management contract with the State.
When CPEA administration was transferred to the Portuguese State, there was no transfer of the teachers' employment relationship and in order to continue teaching, teachers had to sign a new contract, but lost benefits and remuneration, which the majority accepted.
However, ten teachers decided to proceed to court in 2022.
According to the court's decision, "the Portuguese Ministry of Education, upon assuming the management" of the school itself, "should assume the position of the Portuguese Education Cooperative in Angola, in relation to employment contracts with the applicants, maintaining seniority and rights acquired and undergoing training at the service of the previous employer".
The Escola Portuguesa de Luanda - Centro de Ensino e Língua Portuguesa was created under the protocol relating to the Centro de Ensino e Língua Portuguesa de Luanda, signed between the governments of Portugal and Angola, having been formally established in 2006.
The termination of CPEA's functions culminated a series of conflicts between a group of cooperators and the EPL leadership.
In 2020, around 300 CPEA cooperators signed a request defending the holding of an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the review of the statutes and proposed the dismissal of the cooperative's current governing bodies and the appointment of an interim management committee.
CPEA rejected the accusations at the time, claiming that an attempt to seize power was involved and justified the increases imposed in the 2020/2021 academic year with the need to ensure the survival of the school.
