“Nobody is going to lose the job for returning”, insists time and again the Minister of Public Education (MEP), Edgar Mora, when he is consulted about the thousands of public school teachers taking part in the national strike.
On Sunday, after knowing the public sector unions, including the teachers union, would not be moving forward to the ‘dialogue’ phase to end the strike now in its 22nd day, the minister indicated that “each one (of the teachers) has to make a personal decision”. See Time For Plan B. Is There A Plan B?
Mora assures that MEP officials informed him of the “thousands” of teachers who want to return to the classroom. “No one is going to lose the job to return (to work),” he said.
“Some ask what they have to say as justification for not having been at work, and I think what is the most important thing is that they can tell the truth, they can say they were on strike, that does not mean that they will lose their jobs,” said Mora.
Although the unions decided to keep the strike going, the minister expects that “this will not last much longer.”
The three public teachers unions are the Asociación Nacional de Educadores (ANDE), the Asociación de Profesores de Segunda Enseñanza (APSE) aand the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Educación Costarricense (SEC).