Motion 2

Motion 2

 «In defense of the Scientific Job»  Total of 1458 signatures (Closed)

SIGNED by Researchers, academics, post-docs and PhD-students gathered on 9th December 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The continuous precariousness of conditions to carry-out scientific work in Portugal is intolerable and has reached, directly or indirectly, everyone: professors and lecturers, researchers, scholarship and grant holders. There is, on the one hand, the permanent absence of the right to do research with decent conditions, which continuous are not held as laborers with work contract, but instead permanent scholarship and grant holders Fellows, with precarious labor conditions, etc. And, on the other hand, the pressure upon Academic Staff who have their workload increased, the blackmail of redundancies (special mobility) or direct wage cut. Insecurity comes cyclically in the form of unemployment as has occurred in the recent call for proposals FCT Investigador 2013.

We do not accept unemployment of researchers, the destruction of national wealth, nor the deterioration of the working conditions for keeping the job. Thus, we require:

 -Labour relations protected for all researchers that should result in a contract of employment.

-The re-evaluation of characteristics of post-doctoral and doctoral scholarships in order to reduce the situation of precariousness of the majority, with the inclusion of social benefits and wages, which is a right in employment contracts, and must take into account the years of experience and age of the researcher.

-A system which foresees the integration in the host institutions of those with a Investigador FCT grant which, on the basis of a positive evaluation of the work achieved over the five years of the project, present a prospect of future stability and permanence in Portugal.

-The compulsory inclusion of funds for the implementation of the respective research projects on financing of FCT and Investigator positions of post-doctoral contracts through a budget proposed by the applicant, and appropriate to each scientific field. It makes no sense to assign grants or work contracts that cover only to candidates salaries without the necessary funds for the implementation of´the proposed projects.

-The opening of competitions for permanent academic positions should be advertised broadly, carried-out in a transparent and simple manner, and subject to a selection procedure in accordance with international standards.

-The end of special mobility and increased workload of lecturers.

 -Law enforcement with regard to lecturers: We reject the hiring of part-time lecturer and paid by the hour.

Document Prepared by

Ana Delicado, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa

João Neres, Global Health Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Suíça

Mário Machaqueiro, CRIA, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Raquel Varela, Instituto de História Contemporânea, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Vera Assis Fernandes, Museum für Naturkunde-Berlin e UNINOVA, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Contacto: emprego.cientifico@gmail.com

 Lisbon, December 9, 2013