Strike by DF teachers affects agricultural sector

Last Thursday (4), teachers in the Federal District went on strike. They were unable to reach an agreement with the DF government on a career restructuring proposal. The Teachers Union (Sinpro) claims that the last readjustment granted to the category was in 2015. And emphasizes that the 18% increase granted by the GDF to education servants is not enough. And even with the readjustment, they argue, the agreement would still be below the national floor.

The stoppage of teachers affects the students’ study schedule, as well as the diet of many of them, who depend on lunch for a complete meal of the day. The strike harms associations and cooperatives that supply schools with food. The president of the Coopermista cooperative, Ivan Engler, explains that there is a planting schedule to meet the contract.

Engler points out that the impacts caused by the stoppage in the production and supply of food cause them losses, which can reach 12 tons of products.

“My producers will have to find other markets to place (sell). And this will have an excess supply, which will drop the price, where these products will be decapitalized. It would probably be about 25 tons that our cooperative would deliver this weekend. It will probably deliver only half or less. So, there are around 12 tons, resulting in losses for producers who will not be able to remove even the cost of the goods”.

The president of the cooperative also highlights the loss of the harvest of food typical of a certain season of the year. “And there is the case of products that are seasonal, for example, the Pokan tangerine that we started delivering two weeks ago, where there would be at least four, five weeks of delivery, which works well in the harvest season. And the Producers who produced, who signed the project, will end up suffering losses”.

meeting without agreement

As for the strike, the tentative agreement took place at the beginning of the week at a meeting between public school teachers in the Federal District, the Secretary of Planning, Budget and Administration, Ney Ferraz, and the Secretary of Education, Hélvia Pararanguá.

In addition to a salary adjustment, the teachers asked for the incorporation of bonuses for pedagogical activities, better working conditions, a solution to overcrowding in classrooms and calling on public servants. According to Sinpro, the expectation is that, of the almost 700 schools, 80% of the category will join the strike.

The GDF reported that it expects the teachers to return for a new negotiation, in order to reach a proposal for an agreement that could cause the end of the stoppage of classes.