The main education unions call off the strikes pending the pre-agreement consultation
The USTEC and Secondary School Teachers suspend the territorial strikes, but for the moment they maintain that of Friday
The consultation on the preliminary agreement between the majority unions and the Department of Education will begin on Monday at 12 noon and will last until Thursday. For this reason, USTEC and Professors of Secondary Education have announced that they are calling off the territorial strikes planned until Thursday “as a day of reflection” while the vote is open. However, the call for Friday is maintained pending teachers evaluating the preliminary agreement with the Government.
CGT and Intersindical advocate voting no on the preliminary agreement. The two unions withdrew from the negotiation and decided not to sign the preliminary agreement because it did not include aspects such as a reduction in ratios in 1st grade of primary school, a timeline for the internalization of support staff and the reclassification of educational support staff (PAE).
Twelve hours of negotiation
After twelve hours of negotiation and up to eight meetings, the Department of Education and the unions reached an agreement last night for a gross monthly salary increase of 450 euros for teachers over four years. The agreement will have to receive the backing of the teachers in a consultation that is expected to begin this Saturday or Sunday morning, but which will not have concluded by Monday morning and, therefore, does not allow for the lifting of the strike on that day.
This Saturday morning, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, celebrated the preliminary agreement, which he described as "historic." He said this during an event to inaugurate a residence for the elderly in Calaf (Anoia), where he thanked the "will and attitude of dialogue" that made the agreement possible and the "work" of the Department of Education, which resumed talks with the main unions a few weeks ago in response to their refusal to join the pact already reached with CCOO and UGT. "It is a first step to improve the educational field and to focus from now on all efforts on what really matters, which is to achieve excellence in the educational field," highlighted the Catalan president.