Education "works" for teachers to collect the first salary increase in May
Teachers and professors will receive about 800 euros in a single payment that was agreed upon in the agreement with UGT and CCOO
BarcelonaThe Government is "working" to make the first salary increase for teachers foreseen in the agreement between UGT and CCOO a reality in May. Sources from the Department of Education confirm that they are working on these deadlines, but they avoid assuring whether it will finally be possible for teachers and professors to receive the 800 euros salary increase next month, which would correspond to the 30% increase in the agreed specific complement. The salary increase is one of the points of the agreement that the department led by Esther Niubó signed a few weeks ago with the two unions, but without the support of USTEC, the majority union force in the Catalan education sector.
The agreement includes that in four years, teachers will earn 3,000 euros gross more per year than they do now. For now, according to UGT – one of the two signatory unions – the payment that should materialize in May would be 838 euros for infant and primary school teachers and 857 for secondary school teachers.
Consult teachers
The announcement by UGT that teachers will receive their salary increase this May — a payment that the union already takes for granted — comes just one day before USTEC makes public the result of its latest consultation on how to continue mobilizations. Last week, the union sent an email to all teachers asking three questions: whether they are willing to have "more strikes", how many strike days they would have – with options between one day and more than 10 – and what type of strike they would prefer.
According to the union, this way they leave "in the hands of the collective" the decision on the next steps to take. They assure that the consultation "must serve to decide whether it is necessary to repeat a cycle of strikes like the one in March or to go a step further and prepare an indefinite strike".