Africa-Press – Cape verde. The president of the Santiago Teachers’ Union (Siprofis), Abraão Borges, today reiterated the need for trade unions in Cape Verde to reinforce the teachers’ struggle.
President of Siprofis reiterates the need for union unity in Cape Verde to reinforce the class struggle
Speaking to Inforpress, Abrão Borges, who leads one of the unions that supported the teachers’ demonstration held on Wednesday, 18th, at national level, recalled that since February Siprofis has been inviting other teachers’ unions to join forces. unite so that they can have the same voice in their demands.
“The objective here is not to have protagonism. The objective is to fight for teachers’ rights because unions only exist because teachers exist, therefore the call is for the union to truly be a “serious union that supports teachers”.
Regarding the teachers’ demonstration, which did not have the support of one of the three unions representing the class in Cape Verde, Abrão Borges highlighted that it was a struggle launched by a group of teachers, but a “serious struggle” that had “success and impact ” at a national and international level and showed that, in fact, Cape Verdean teachers “are unhappy and they have reason to be”.
“Yesterday’s demonstration exceeded the entire scale of demonstrations ever held in Cape Verde, therefore, it exceeded our expectations because we believed and took it with strength”, reinforced the same source.
Abraão Borges indicated that the two unions got involved in the expectation that it would be successful and it was successful, adding that the group of teachers who had previously addressed the unions directly held a meeting with all the unions.
“Siprofis embraced this fight without hesitation, because the teachers’ fight, however carried out, is a fight for the unions, which only exist because of the teachers”, reinforced Borges.
In addition to Siprofis, the demonstration by teachers to demand a salary increase within the framework of the 2024 budget and the resolution of all pending issues, which took hundreds of teachers to the streets on all islands in the country, had the support of Sindicatos Democracias of Teachers (Sindprof).
The National Union of Teachers (Sindep), for its part, which claims to be the most representative of the teaching class, refused to support teachers in this fight, claiming that there was no prior consultation, with its president Jorge Cardoso even questioning the legitimacy of the group to call for a demonstration.
In a statement to RCV, before the demonstration on Wednesday, 18th, Jorge Cardoso said that Sindep already has a demonstration scheduled for November 4th, followed by a strike on November 23rd, if the Government does not respond positively to the teachers’ demands.
Asked whether Siprofis will participate in the demonstration on November 4th, Abraão Borges, who is currently in Lisbon, participating together with Jorge Cardoso in a Lusofonia forum, said that wherever the teachers’ struggle is, he and his team will be present to support.
Among the teachers’ demands are the payment of the subsidy for non-reduction in workload, career transition, improvement in the career of teachers with masters and doctorates, reclassification, as well as a new salary scale for teachers and automatic promotion for all teachers before retire.
After the demonstration, teachers promise to fill parliament on the day of discussion of the State Budget for 2024 and move forward with the general strike, if the approved budget does not include responses to the demands.
Inforpress contacted Sindprof and Sindep, but it was not possible to speak with those responsible for the two teachers’ unions.
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