In a decision dated July 14, which the Lusa agency had access to this Tuesday, Judge Jorge Diu, from the working room of the Court of the Comarca de Belas, "decides to condemn" the EPL and the Portuguese Cooperative of Teaching in Angola to "assume the rights and obligations" of the initial employment contracts.
These will have, according to the judge's decision, to "link the legal-employment relationship with the applicants under the Angolan legal system".
The EPL, created in the 1980s, was until 2021 managed by the Cooperativa Portuguesa de Ensino in Angola (CPEA), but from September 7, 2021 it was 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 managed by a private entity that had a management contract with the State.
In the transfer of the CPEA administration to the Portuguese State, there was no transmission of the teachers' employment relationship and, in order to continue teaching, the teachers had to sign a new contract, but losing rights, which the majority accepted, but a group of 10 contested it in court .
"It is unequivocally inferred from the records that we are facing a modification of the employment contract for management reasons", reads the document signed by the judge, which goes against what the General Labor Law establishes.
This says that the new employer, "provided that the activity continues" assumes the position and obligations of the previous one in the employment contracts and "the workers maintain seniority and acquired rights".
Thus, according to the decision now known, in a process initiated a year ago, "the Portuguese Ministry of Education, when assuming the management" of the school itself, "should assume the position of the Portuguese Teaching Cooperative in Angola, regarding the employment contracts with applicants, maintaining seniority and acquired rights and undergoing training at the service of the previous employer".
The Portuguese School of Luanda - Teaching and Portuguese Language Center was created under the protocol relating to the Portuguese Teaching and Language Center of Luanda, signed between the governments of Portugal and Angola, having been formally constituted in 2006.
The cessation of functions of the CPEA culminated a series of episodes that opposed a group of cooperators and the leadership of the EPL.
In 2020, around 300 CPEA cooperative members signed an application defending the holding of an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the revision of the statutes and proposed the dismissal of the current governing bodies of the cooperative and the appointment of an interim management committee.
The CPEA rejected, at the time, the accusations, claiming that it was an attempt to seize power and justified the increases imposed in the 2020/2021 school year with the need to ensure the survival of the school.
