“Hundreds of schools” have closed today (February 20) due to the nationwide strike which saw over 80% of school workers taking part, says the school workers’ national federation.
“We can’t yet confirm how many schools have closed, but there are definitely hundreds closed across the country,” federation spokesman Artur Sequeira told Lusa news agency.
As the Resident reported yesterday, at issue is the government’s plan to hand the running of schools over to municipalities, and the “precarious nature of most workers’ contracts”.
Sequeira has pointed out that the average wage of school workers is around €550 and that most of the people hired these days were on temporary contracts and had no experience working with children.
If things do not change, he warned, his union will continue with “other means of protest”.
