With the administrative employee unions of the universities announcing the extension of their strike for yet another week over the controversial suspension and dismissal plans, the Ministry of Education is beginning to worry about the new academic semester going to waste.
A critical amendment is being voted on today regarding the penalties for administrative employees who do not conform to disciplinary action and also includes a retroactive provision for the suspension of employees who do not register their details online. The Rectors of the universities announced a new emergency synod for Tuesday, the 5th of November.
The Ministry’s deadline for administrative employees to register their details online ends tonight and while there has been an increase in number of registrations, only about half of the 2,000 employees have registered. About 600 employees from the University of Athens cosigned a declaration against the Ministry of Education’s “arbitrariness and lack of transparency” and claimed the dismissals and suspensions will only depreciate the public institutions.
Meanwhile over 18,000 people have signed an online petition in favor of ending the strike and reopening the universities, claiming that “the universities are for academic activities, not political games”.
