"We have the account that two teachers from Colégio St. Paul School were replaced without any invocation of any serious and reasonable justification," accused the coordinator of the Union in front of the school, together with about a dozen protesters.

In statements to Lusa, André Pestana explained that the establishment removed functions from a teacher, moving her to the library without any functions, while the other was transferred to a free time activities center in Miranda do Corvo, more than 30 kilometers away, without teaching functions.

According to the union member, the two teachers were placed in other functions because they refused an agreement to revoke their employment contract.

Initially, the school wanted to revoke the employment contract without any compensation and then offered only 500 euros in compensation.

"The reason given was that they did not correspond to the profile of the school, which is unknown and which seems to have a clear ideological content," he added.

According to the union leader, the school's leaders then decided to institute disciplinary proceedings against one of the teachers, "with a view to pursuing their attempt to pressure the revocation of the contract".

"The employer's conduct is clearly illegal because it violates the contractual clause against the functions to be performed, the legal rules of transfer and the violation of the right to effective occupation," he argued.

In his view, this whole situation puts teachers in a "vexatious and even humiliating situation", with damage to their physical and mental health.

"Such conduct, if it persists, may even indicate serious workplace harassment. In other words, these workers, if they were fired, would have to receive until the end of their contract, in addition to the fact that the law also provides for the right to compensation for termination of contract," he alleged.

Contacted by Lusa, the administration of St. Pauls School stressed that this is a private school "with excellent and rigorous teaching", and that it pays above the table to all employees.

"Unfortunately, a couple of teachers, a man and a woman, exhibited unacceptable behavior in terms of discipline," he lamented.

In an email signed by the administrator of the private educational institution, Jaime Ramos, it is reported that the teacher in question used swear words to address a student in the classroom and destroyed the work of another subject, carried out by the students.

In a class council meeting, the teacher is said to have stated "giving up on teaching students who did not correspond to what he wanted".

"We consider that these behaviors are ethically unacceptable and demonstrated a lack of professionalism, which requires disciplinary proceedings aimed at dismissal. We regret that the union, instead of promoting the prestige and professional competence of teachers, is committed to defending bad professionals," he concluded.

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