University professors decide to continue strike on Friday

According to António Filipe Augusto, Sinpes' secretary for Information and Projection, the teachers signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESCTI), as these were "agreed upon points" during the negotiation rounds.

"And we are going to see to what extent they will be fulfilled, if they are fulfilled, they will be able to mitigate the current complexities that afflict university professors", said the union official in statements to Lusa.

The strike by university teachers began on 10 November, and was called for an "indefinite period" to demand salary increases, better working conditions, payment of subsidies and others.

After the meeting that took place at the MESCTI headquarters, in Luanda, the union secretary said that the eight points in the claim list "were accepted" by the employer.

"The eight points contained in the claim list were accepted and for us, the negotiating team, we think it is a gain, however our appreciation is not the same in relation to all affiliates, that is why we are going to expose the memorandum to the affiliates", he said.

Based on this memorandum, the "assembly will decide whether it thinks it is efficient or not and what position to take" and "any position depends on the general meeting", he stressed.

The holding of elections in public institutions of higher education, salary remuneration, payment of public debt, exceptional administrative provision of career teachers, improvement of the infrastructure of higher education institutions, continuous training of teachers and funding for research scientific are some of the points in the claim submitted to the tutelage on May 12, 2018.

The union leader also referred that in previous negotiation meetings, the parties agreed 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, dollar indexation and adjustment of up to 5000 dollars for the full professor and 2000 dollars for the assistant trainee, as well as the end of the taxation of the Income Tax (IRT) "was referred to the holder of the executive power" .

"The salary issue was referred to the holder of the executive power because the ministry (of Higher Education) has no legitimacy, that is, this issue is not part of its attributions and we have until November 9th as the deadline for compliance", noticed.

The President acknowledged, on the 5th, that, "despite the efforts that have been undertaken", the "scarcity of teachers and administrative staff" to respond to the specific needs of each higher education institution in Angola 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".