Government of Santa Catarina threatens to fire striking teachers and prohibit them from taking competitive exams; listen

BRASILIA – The government of Santa Catarina decided to fire temporary teachers who joined the category’s strike in the State and who had accumulated five days of absence during the strike, including Sundays and holidays, in addition to prohibiting professionals from taking up permanent positions for the next three years.

The decision was communicated by managers from the Santa Catarina Department of Education to school directors on Monday, 29. Estadão had access to the recording of a meeting held by one of the regional teaching coordinations, in Jaraguá do Sul (SC). “The broth has thickened, including on our side”, said the regional Education coordinator, Leopoldo Diehl Filho, at the time.

The administration of governor Jorginho Mello (PL) also decided to give unjustified absences to teachers on public contracts and threatened to dismiss directors and commissioned employees who publish publications in favor of the strike. Another decision was to ban strikers and union representatives from entering the school environment. State teachers have been on strike since the 23rd.

At the meeting, held via videoconference, the regional coordinator of Education, Leopoldo Diehl Filho, ordered the directors to give absence to the strikers and to inform the temporary teachers – those who are not gazetted and fulfill temporary contracts with the education network – that they will be dismissed if continue on strike and accumulate five days of absence during the strike, including Sundays and holidays.

‘The broth has thickened, including on our side’, says government representative to directors

Right at the beginning of the meeting, the state government representative made an alert to the directors who were on the video call: “Good afternoon, directors, how are you? I would like everyone to preferably turn on the camera today. I wouldn’t like a closed camera. Today, the conversation is a little more serious,” he said.

According to the coordinator, the decisions were taken by governor Jorginho Mello and the state secretary of Education, Aristides Cimadon.

“From now on, teachers receive unjustified absenteeism. So, the ACT (teacher hired on a temporary basis) who went on strike on the 23rd can now dismiss him and hire someone else. It’s three years out because he exceeded the foul limit. So, there will be no negotiation.”

Then, the coordinator determines that the directors also give unjustified absence to the teachers who have been gazetted and that they do not publish on social media in support of the strike, in addition to not failing to comply with what was determined by the “headquarters”, that is, by the secretariat. state. “The broth has thickened, including on our side,” he said.

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Diehl Filho also mentions the possibility of avoiding layoffs. “If this teacher, you manage to talk to him, comes back immediately, we will talk, there won’t be a rush. It’s to end the strike.” Another decision communicated at the meeting is not to let any striking teachers or union representatives enter the schools from the gate. “From now on, no one sets foot inside the school anymore, the gates are closed and life goes on.”

The state education coordination assistant, Leidiane Reckelberg, also spoke at the meeting, clarifying the administrative procedures that must be adopted. “It is pressure from the State, yes, for this teacher to return immediately and the strike to lose strength. I think that’s one of the objectives, right, Leopoldo?”, she said. “The main thing”, replied the coordinator.

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The government is based on state legislation that determines the dismissal of temporary teachers after three consecutive days or five consecutive days of absence from work for an unjustified reason. The category’s union maintains, however, that the absence should only be registered in this way during a strike if it is considered illegal, which was not the case. There is no court decision on the strike in Santa Catarina.

The State has approximately 37 thousand teachers in the state network, of which 30 thousand are temporary. In a note to the report, the State government stated that the deduction of days off from the payroll of striking teachers is a “legally legal” measure, but did not clarify the determination to dismiss the temporary workers nor directly comment on the statements made at the meeting.

“The government reinforces that it is open to dialogue about improvements in the remuneration of Education professionals. This negotiation, however, will only be carried out once this small group of strikers ends the strike and returns to the classroom”, says the note.

Governor says it is impossible to meet the strikers’ main demand

On Sunday, the 28th, governor Jorginho Mello published a video saying that the State pays the highest average salary in the South Region and granted an increase in benefits for teachers, such as food vouchers.

The governor stated, however, that it was not possible to meet the main demand of the professionals in the strike: the decompression of the payroll. The measure would increase the remuneration of teachers with longer service. According to the government, unpacking the sheet would cost R$4.6 billion to the public coffers.

“We would greatly exceed the limits of the fiscal responsibility law, we would practically break the State. In other words, serving the union is committing a crime of administrative improbity. The State would be spending more than is allowed by law, and I will not do that”, stated Jorginho.