The teachers occupy Montserrat on the first day of consultation on the agreement with Education

BarcelonaAfter the preliminary agreement on Friday night between the majority unions and Education, teachers are called from this Monday to express their opinion on the pact, which foresees a gross monthly salary increase of 450 euros over four years. The consultation, which has been sent to teachers' corporate email, started at 12 noon and will last until Thursday at the same time. By 8 p.m. on the first day, more than 17,000 teachers out of a census of 94,490 had participated, 18%. Teachers must vote whether to accept the agreement, as proposed by USTEC, or to continue with the strikes planned until the summer holidays, the option defended by CGT, Intersindical and COS. In fact, these three unions have promoted new actions. This very Monday, about 200 teachers carried out a slow march in Montserrat and occupied the atrium of the Basilica of Santa Maria de Montserrat to hold an assembly and debate the preliminary agreement with Education. It is an unusual image, as a demonstration had never entered this space before. Around four in the afternoon, they ended the protest. In parallel, tonight about 300 teachers have set up a camp in front of the Territorial Services of Education in Girona and, later, organized a debate on the preliminary agreement, called by the Coordinator of Educational Assemblies.

"It's not okay for me to reach the end of the month and be happy with my salary if on Monday I have the same problems in the classroom," Pablo Navarro, from the Institut Pius Font i Quer in Manresa, explained to ACN this morning from Montserrat. The participants in the protest in Montserrat have displayed banners and chanted slogans against the preliminary agreement, which they describe as a "patch" because, they assure, it focuses mainly on salary aspects but does not address the problems that affect the daily life of educational centers.

Despite the protest actions, this Monday the follow-up of the strike called in Girona and Central Catalonia has not reached 10%, according to data from the Department of Education.

Meanwhile, all teachers have already received the consultation on the preliminary agreement in their email. "Do you accept the preliminary agreement for teaching staff of May 29th?", says the question that the educational community must answer. And two response options are included: "Yes" and "⁠No, and I commit to carrying out the necessary strikes until the end of the course".

In the email signed by USTEC, CGT, and La Intersindical, they also say that before voting, they encourage teachers "to debate the preliminary agreement in centers and assemblies". "It is necessary to decide if it is time to ratify the preliminary agreement and consolidate these advances, or if it is considered insufficient and it is necessary to continue pressing with strikes until the end of the course, to achieve a better proposal", they explain and attach summaries of the current preliminary agreement, as well as the agreement reached by UGT and CCOO in March. In addition, they also recall that in the consultation "the vote is secret" and that "the system incorporates the necessary technical measures to guarantee the integrity of the voting process and ensure that each participant can only cast a single vote".

Niubó warns of "chaos" if the 'no' wins

Despite defending the endorsement of the agreement with the department, in fact, USTEC is committed to an indefinite strike starting June 8 – like the teachers' strike in the Valencian Country – if there is a majority rejection of the preliminary agreement. In parallel, the union Professors de Secundària, also in favor of the agreement, has conducted another consultation among its affiliates.

For the moment, the majority unions have called off the strikes planned until Thursday, while the consultation is ongoing, but the unitary strike called for Friday remains pending the result of the vote. CGT and Intersindical, on the other hand, have decided to maintain the mobilizations planned throughout the week.

Given this scenario, this Monday the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, has already called on the educational community to endorse the agreement. In an interview on El matí de Catalunya Ràdio she warned that the alternative is to open an "scenario of chaos" and "weakening of the educational system and the union movement". "Teachers are very aware of what is at stake," she said. The minister, who stressed that the preliminary agreement will mean that Catalan teachers will be "among the best paid" in Spain, also claimed the 6,400 professionals for inclusive education agreed upon with the majority unions.