The information was transmitted this Wednesday to Lusa by the secretary general of the Union of Higher Education Teachers (Sinpes), Eduardo Peres Alberto, stating that the seven academic regions of Angola had halted work and joined the strike.
"Our strike is for an indefinite period. Yesterday [Tuesday] we had a round of negotiations with the Government, which began at 3:30pm and ended at 10pm local time and we will resume next Monday, where we only addressed the holding of elections in institutions higher education institutions and also on the salary issue," said the union leader.
According to Sinpes' general secretary, it was agreed, at Tuesday's negotiating meeting with the employer, that the elections for rectors, deans and directors at the level of public institutions in higher education will start on December 14th.
The issue of salaries, indexing to the dollar and readjustment of up to 5000 dollars for full professors and 2000 dollars for the trainee assistant, as well as the end of the taxation of the Labor Income Tax (IRT) on subsidies were also addressed at the negotiating meeting.
"At the meeting, the Ministries of Finance, Public Administration, Labor and Social Security and Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation assumed that they will consult with the holder of the executive power and on December 9 they will present a concrete counterproposal to the union", he explained.
Eduardo Peres Alberto also stated that "despite the negotiations, the strike by university professors is still standing, because other points in the list of claims still need to be discussed".
Lack of health insurance, salary increases, better working conditions, improvement of infrastructure, lack of funds for scientific research and university extension, continuing teacher training, university elections, are among Sinpes' demands described in a list of claims sent to the tutelage on May 12, 2018.
The President acknowledged, on the 5th, that, "despite the efforts that have been undertaken", the "scarcity of professors and administrative staff" to respond to the specific needs of each higher education institution in the country is still a reality.
João Lourenço, who was speaking at the official opening ceremony of the academic year 2021/2022, assumed that "there is still a long way to go in increasing the number of full-time faculty and administrative staff".
