As Portugal struggles with a crisis in the cost of living, tens of thousands of public school teachers and other staff members demonstrated in Lisbon on Saturday to call for higher pay and better working conditions.
About 80,000 protesters, shouting phrases like ‘for the banks there are millions, for us there are only pennies,’ reportedly filled the Portuguese capital.
The Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa is experiencing a decline in popularity and street protests from not only teachers but also other professionals like doctors, one year after securing a majority in parliament.
The Union of All Education Professionals (STOP) is requesting that the government speed up career advancement and increase teacher and school employee pay by at least 120 euros ($130) per month.
While the government has not specifically made a counterproposal for educators, it has stated that it will raise all civil servants’ monthly salaries up to about 2,600 euros by 52 euros.
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