A MASS walkout marred an emergency meeting held yesterday by Secondary school teachers’ union (OELMEK) to discuss extending teachers’ retirement age.
Tensions were high ahead of yesterday morning’s meeting, with OELMEK already having separated into two camps over the controversial issue.
The three representatives of the breakaway ‘Prodeftiki Movement’ and the ‘Teachers Alliance’ yesterday walked out after disagreeing with other OELMEK officials on what issues to discuss about the retirement age problem and in which order to discuss them. They took with them 50 around members of their respective faction.
The meeting continued despite the walkout, with only 80 out of the 130 teachers remaining and it was eventually decided that OELMEK would reopen discussions with the government to extend the current retirement age.
They later described the circumstances of the meeting as “unethical” and “militantly trade unionist”, while going as far as to also describe an “internal coup” in OELMEK.
Yesterday’s meeting was called over the retirement age for teachers and also to discuss barring three OELMEK members who are reported to also be members of newly formed SEDEK.
In November last year, a group of teachers submitted to the union registrar an application to create another union going under the title of Teachers Union for Middle and Technical Schools (SEDEK), something which angered OELMEK who accused the “breakaway” teachers of trying to destroy them.
The problem has since seen two camps within OELMEK at loggerheads leaving them rarely united to tackle several other key problems facing the teachers.
Commenting on the decision to reopen retirement age discussions, OELMEK Chairman Giorgos Kalias said government talks had been agreed upon in order to help those teachers who had not completed 400 months of teaching by the time they were 60 and were not permitted to get a full pension.
Kalias also said that OELMEK had given SEDEK just one month to disband.
“The OELMEK board has decided to hold talks with the government to discuss the problems that are facing a large number of teachers,” he said after yesterday’s meeting.
Before the meeting, Kalias said OELMEK’s constitution stipulated it was illegal for representatives to be part of other unions as well.
One of the three members who set up SEDEK, Michalis Kelogrigoris, yesterday spoke of personal and political gains of certain people with regards to the decision to disband SEDEK, adding that nobody had given them a chance to explain why the union was set up in the first place.
According to the representative of the ‘Prodeftiki Movement’, Giorgos Zissimos, the OELMEK leadership would not listen to their suggestions or even the committee adviser over the key issues that were on the agenda that day.
Zissimos claimed the OELMEK committee’s legal adviser had informed them that the first discussion on the day’s agenda should have been the whether or not to bar the three members, with the retirement age issue to be discussed afterwards.
“When that matter was brought up, they disagreed with the opinion of the committee advisor of OELMEK,” he said yesterday. “So some questions have to be raised here. Because the retirement age matter was discussed and decided upon two years ago, Prodeftiki instead wanted to raise the matter concerning certain colleagues that are close to retirement and are facing problems.
“Not even that was accepted. We cannot remain allies under such activities in which they want to undo decisions that were already voted in.”
The turbulent situation at OELMEK has worried Education Minister Akis Kleanthous, who is willing to intervene to avert a possible dismantling of the teachers union.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Kleanthous said, “Of course, the ministry is concerned by these developments because we do not want to see the teachers’ union fall apart.
“It is in the interests of themselves, our education and everybody in general that they stay united. I have said before that if needed, I will intervene.”
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