The General Secretary of the Union of Teaching Workers of Anzoátegui State (STEA), Édgar Pérez, asked the administration of Nicolás Maduro to sign the collective contract for the teaching profession before requesting the reinstatement of retired teachers.
By Correspondent lapatilla.com
It should be remembered that at the beginning of this week the Minister of Education, Héctor Rodríguez, signed a resolution so that educators already retired from the public sector can return to work without losing their current benefits.
According to Rodríguez at the time of the announcement, this is a strategy to cover the teacher deficit, mainly in subjects such as physics, chemistry and mathematics (STEM). However, Pérez sees it as difficult for a teacher to decide to return, since salary conditions are still far below expectations.
“For example, those who continue teaching in private institutions are not going to leave the stability they may have to return to the uncertainty of the public sector. The same occurs with those who left the country as a desperate measure,” he said.
Pérez attributed these “desperate measures” to the worrying desertion of educators, as a consequence of salary conditions being far below what they need to survive.
“I think the minister should take action. The first thing he has to do is call for a discussion on the collective bargaining agreement, which expired years ago, and after signing it, do what he thinks is necessary,” he suggested.
The union spokesman also recalled that Venezuela’s National Government dismissed the claims and demands of the teaching profession through constant protests in previous years and that many teachers were cheated out of their pensions.