"It will be a very difficult strike for everyone"

BarcelonaThis Tuesday will be the sixth time that Catalan teachers have been called to strike across Catalonia in less than a year. In fact, if all the territorial strikes that were organized at the end of last school year are taken into account, a teacher or professor in the Catalan educational system who has participated in all of them will have been on strike for almost ten days – and, therefore, without pay – this 2026. Nevertheless, USTEC and the CGT, the two unions on the board calling for the stoppage – joined by the Intersindical and COS – and the brand new Catalan Educational Assembly (AEC) clearly see that the strike for the first day of school is "necessary", since, in their view, the Government has not properly reopened negotiations following the teachers' rejection of the pre-agreement in May.

Although they consider this protest essential, none of the three groups hides the fact that Tuesday's stoppage is more delicate and complicated than those of the last days of the school year, which achieved turnout higher than 30%, according to data from the Department of Education. "It will be a very difficult strike for everyone, for the workers and for the families. It is also a very hard strike to carry out", admits Laura Gené to ARA, general secretary of Education for the CGT, the only union that did not sign the pre-agreement in May and that emerged strengthened after the rejection by more than 39,500 teachers of the pact with the Government –despite the fact that the Department of Education has chosen to move forward with the agreed-upon improvements–. "We don't feel comfortable, we don't like it because [the first day of school] is indeed a very important day, but precisely because it is a very important day it also helps us to apply much more pressure", argues Gené.

From USTEC, the majority union that after the rejection of the pre-agreement opened new consultations with teachers to understand the needs of the classrooms, spokesperson Iolanda Segura defends that "people are active and eager to continue the fight". However, she admits that since it has only been a few days since teachers returned to their centers –they returned to work on September 1st, but some interim teachers arrived on tighter schedules–, they have not yet been able to go to the schools and high schools to "find out the sentiment that is being felt in the centers". In the same vein, members of the AEC warn that due to the high teacher mobility that occurs every school year, many teachers have just arrived new at their center and have not yet been able to familiarize themselves with the assemblies and organize themselves for Tuesday.

Be that as it may, unions and the assembly are counting on a mobilization power that only a few months ago moved a yellow tide of more than 30,000 teachers to the streets of Barcelona to demand improvements in the classrooms. However, they also ask for the complicity of families, even though, for many of them, a strike on the first day of school means an organizational and work-life balance upheaval. "In the end, it depends a lot on each situation. If there are families who can afford it, they can help us by not bringing their students, also if they see that due to their child's needs being at school on a day like this can be stressful. But, in the same way, if a child does not have a support network to stay with, they should bring them, obviously –clarifies Gené–. In the end, our call is for them to help us make the day as least difficult as possible for everyone," she insists.

The same flexibility is proposed by Segura for teachers: "If there is someone who does not participate, it will not be because they do not want to continue the fight, but because they perhaps consider that their responsibility on the first day is to be in the classroom. What remains very clear is that, regardless of the level of participation there is, we have a reality, the unrest is there".

More resources and shielding Catalan

Beyond the forecasts for Tuesday's strike, when asked about the current situation with the Department of Education, the two union representatives give similar answers: nobody has budged, but the door to talking has not been closed either, which is not the same as negotiating. Both the USTEC and the CGT reproach Minister Esther Niubó for asking to call off the mobilization "in exchange for a blank check." In contrast, after meeting with the two unions separately, the head of Education appeared, asking for "a hiatus" in the mobilizations to be able to move forward "with serenity and a constructive spirit."

In the same way, while the USTEC criticizes that the Government is resisting establishing a negotiation calendar with concrete points, Niubó also assured that her department put "a work agenda" on the table for the unions to address issues and to "maintain a fluid dialogue throughout the year." In addition, the minister admitted that they share "their demands to achieve the best public education for the country's students."

However, one of the problems of this negotiation is that the needs of the current educational system and what the unions are demanding from the Government are as necessary as they are broad: from reaching the long-awaited 6% of GDP in education –or at least scheduling the increase in investment– to shielding Catalan in schools. But also, and above all, an improvement in conditions and more hands, which are difficult to get into the classrooms, despitethe announcement of 500 new reception classroom allocations and the thousand new teacher additions announced by the Government at the beginning of the school year.

One of the key points in this negotiation, without a doubt, is the resources for inclusive schools in centers that claim they are at their limit and where one in three students has educational support needs. "If I am a single person in the classroom, I cannot properly attend to a student with needs without neglecting the rest of the classroom and vice versa," is something that hundreds of teachers have been repeating for a long time. Therefore, both unions and the AEC are asking for more resources to be able to reduce the ratios –and over-ratios– of students per teacher, more educational support professionals –especially caregivers– and an improvement in conditions for this sector.