The conflict in education has made evident the unrest felt in schools and institutes, as well as the difficulties in finding solutions. An increasingly unequal society is bringing serious social problems to educational institutions. Growing inequalities, extreme poverty, social violence, and mental illness generate conflicts that teachers must face without the necessary resources and with a sense of isolation and abandonment. Signs on the doors of some schools express this clearly: "We are outraged that the educational psychologist is not part of the school staff"; "We are outraged that we have to train ourselves in our free time and at our own expense in dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, specific language impairment, ADHD, dyscalculia..."

Union leader Javier Pacheco (Barcelona, ​​1970) grew up in a working-class family, with a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked in the plastics industry. "They were small companies, and Dad changed jobs many times. I saw how he suffered the consequences of minor crises because he couldn't find stability for more than ten years at the same company," he recalls. This family experience shaped his career path: "My father always advised us to end up working for a big company." That's how he ended up working at Nissan. Before that, however, he had already entered the workforce at a very young age, at 14, as a scrap metal collector: "I was starting adolescence and needed money to go out, and there wasn't any at home." He completed vocational training in the automotive sector and has never stopped working. In 1990, Pacheco joined the Workers' Commissions (CCOO). Seven years later he was elected union representative for the company, and from 2017 to 2025 he served as general secretary of CCOO in Catalonia. "I never thought this would continue. I thought it was a decision for a period of my life," Pacheco explained in statements toCompaniesAnd he adds: "This wasn't my father's or my mother's fight, because they never had that political background. They came from the Franco era, from when the motto was 'don't get involved in politics.' But these are the values of a working class and a working-class family."

Workplace accidents have soared in the first seven months of the year, with 52 fatalities in Catalonia, 44.4% more than in the same period last year, when there were 36. Accidents—which include minor and serious accidents—are expected to decrease. It should be noted that these figures must be added to those from August, among which one stands out. Death due to work-related accident at the Ebro plant and one seasonal worker died of heat stroke in Alcarràs, among other victims.

The relationship between left-wing parties and the major unions is as old as the labor movement. The first leader of the UGT, Pablo Iglesias, was also a member of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), just as the CCOO (Spanish Workers' Party) was founded by militants of the Communist Party (and, in Catalonia, of the PSUC). Since the Transition, these relations have fluctuated until they consolidated a stable framework of collaboration within the institutions. But despite political sympathies, externally, the unions assert their independence and pressure the parties to adopt their agendas. For example, shorter working hours, higher wages, and guaranteed affordable housing. Now, who is closer to whom on the political and union scene in post-Process Catalonia?

Belén López (Les Masies de Voltregà, 1976) meets with the ARA (Argentine Workers' Union) with her suitcase ready to catch the AVE (High-Speed Train) to Girona, after three intense days of congresses during which she was elected the first female general secretary of the CCOO (Working Workers' Union) in Catalonia. She will replace Javier Pacheco at the head of the country's largest union, with nearly 147,000 members.

The real inequality in the salaries of men and women has only been reduced by 200 euros since 2008, according to reports published by UGT and CCOO of Catalonia this Friday, which mark the wage gap at 19.51% for the first of the unions and 24.2% for the second. The data used are from 2022, from the Salary Structure Survey of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), and state that men earn 6,200 euros more than women per year, a figure that has been reduced since 2014, but has remained above 6,000 euros. Currently, the Catalan difference is higher than the Spanish one by 1,200 euros.