The strike by teachers in Rio de Janeiro’s municipal network, which began on Monday (25), will continue. The decision was taken by the category in an assembly held this Friday (29), at the Escola de Samba São Clemente, in the central region of the city, to discuss the direction of the movement.
According to the general coordinator of the State Union of Education Professionals of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Sepe-RJ), Helenita Bezerra, who participated in the assembly, the entity has not yet been officially notified of the decision of the president of the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ), judge Ricardo Rodrigues Cardoso, who ordered yesterday (28) the immediate interruption of the strike by teachers in the municipal network and the return to work.
Furthermore, the judge imposed a fine of R$500,000 on the category entity and R$5,000 on the union directors for each day of non-compliance with the order.
“The assembly decided to continue the strike, and the union still does not have official notification of the illegality of the strike. Until there is, our lawyers cannot move on a fact that, for us, is not official”, Helenita told Brazil Agency.
The judge’s decision responded to the request of the city of Rio, which argued that the strike was illegal through a collective strike action. “The municipality reported that there was no prior notice regarding the strike movement and no attempt at dialogue between the category and the Municipal Department of Education”, reported the TJRJ.
According to the president of the court, the union did not comply with “basic elements to guarantee the legality of the strike”, such as the exhaustion of the attempt at dialogue and the minimum prior notification of 48 hours. “In a first analysis, there is no proof of the exhaustion of the negotiation process and its frustration. On the contrary, the ID document. 01, in Annex 1, demonstrates that, on the same day that the assembly was called by the union, it was decided to start the wall movement immediately and without a final end”, said the judge.
“There is no doubt that the activities of education employees are essential”, stated Ricardo Cardoso, highlighting that this is a limiting factor for the exercise of the right to strike. The judge determined that the city hall deduct the salary in proportion to the days of illegal strike.
In an attempt to reach an agreement, a virtual hearing was scheduled for December 11th, at 3 pm. “The category union demands the shelving of Bill (PL) 186/2024, which expands the number of classes for teachers and brings changes to rights such as vacations and licenses. Teachers and employees at schools in the municipality also demand the repeal of Law 8666/2024, which increases temporary contracts in the network to up to six years”, concluded the TJRJ in a note.
The Sepe-RJ coordinator also informed that, on Wednesday (4), there will be a new assembly. Until then, the category intends to discuss in the City Council the presentation of amendments to Bill 186 or its withdrawal by Mayor Eduardo Paes.
“We came up with a mobilization agenda that foresees leaflets, actions and a series of things to be done with the category. On Wednesday we will have a new assembly. We are also waiting for the legislative house to call us for another hearing in which we will say whether the category agreed, or not, to add amendments to the bill. They [vereadores] they will tell us, or not, whether the mayor agreed to remove PL 186 from the agenda”, he concluded.
The Municipal Department of Education informed the Brazil Agency “that the municipal network is moving towards the end of the school year and will follow the normal planning of the school calendar, without changes”.
