The negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the General Federation for Secondary Education, which was resumed yesterday failed due to the continued divergence of views between the government and trade unions. Thus, the teachers continue to boycott the exams and strike at the Ministry of Education.
"We found a ministerial delegation that wants us to go back to the first step of negotiations, we totally reject this, as it is a loss of time and it paves the way for political jobbery" said the Secretary-General of the secondary education federation, Lasaad Al-Yaakoubi. He considers this political jobbery’s aim is to thwart the protest movements, stressing on the continuation of the teachers’ movements and protests, as well as, the boycott of the exams.
He called on the teachers to rally in big numbers in the strike, and called for the suspension of all the second trimester’s exams.
This open-ended strike, held by the teachers at the Ministry of Education continues for more than a week, in protest against the non-reaching of an agreement with the ministry to meet their demands. Moreover, they also carry out every Wednesday a day of anger and mass rallies in the capital and in all the provinces of the country.
The General Federation for Secondary Education accused the ministry of lack of the political will to settle the problem of secondary education and its insistence on refusing to return to negotiations.
The General Federation considers that the success of negotiations should be based on the former agreements between the parties, noting that the federation is committed to the raising of 150 dinars (50 dollars) in the monthly stipend for teachers and retirement on the basis of 32/57 years.
The federation also highlights that the demands include the doubling of the two scholarships, currently worth 360 dinars (120 dollars) and 45 dollars ($ 12) for the baccalaureate. It also considers that the increase in the grant is intended to provide the teachers with an increase in the scholarship, which they were deprived, unlike the other workers in 2015, following an agreement to increase wages, with the presence of the government ang the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT).
The union party also considers that the demand of the retirement on the basis of 32/57 years does not include all teachers, especially in light that, a significant number of them started working at a young age, pointing out that a small number of them are also interested in early retirement. It revealed that the negotiations between the parties reached the stage of studying the calculation and the disbursement of the social contributions to the social funds in case of early retirement, accusing the Ministry of being responsible of its halt, after the decline and disavow of what was agreed upon.
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