"Negotiation or resignation": almost half of teachers go on strike to demand a new agreement from the Government

"Negotiation or resignation." This was the main message repeated by the 35,000 teachers who demonstrated this Friday in Barcelona to show their rejection of the agreement the government signed with the CCOO and UGT unions to improve teachers' working conditions and the situation in classrooms. Their refusal resulted in what the unions called a "total strike": almost half of the teachers (43.77%) participated in the work stoppage. This figure is slightly higher than the participation reported by the Department of Education during the last teachers' strike in Catalonia in February, when the final tally was 40.94%.

The teachers' protest has made its presence felt throughout the country, with blockades on access roads to Barcelona and other main thoroughfares early this morning, several slow marches and columns through the streets mid-morning, and a final demonstration in Plaça Tetuán. This culminated in a sea of ​​yellow-clad teachers surrounding the Parliament building, with the organizing unions (USTEC, the Secondary Education Union, the CGT, and the Intersindical) urging the government to meet at 10:00 AM on Tuesday at the University of Barcelona to reopen negotiations. "There is no other way than negotiation with the teachers," insisted Iolanda Segura, spokesperson for USTEC, from the stage that the organizers had set up on Passeig Lluís Companys, which was overflowing with teachers. "If they don't sit down to negotiate, we will bring down the government," the thousands of teachers who emptied their classrooms this Friday concluded. In fact, the unions met with ERC, Junts, Comuns, and the CUP, and upon leaving, they stated that "if the Government does not rectify the situation," they will hold a third term "with permanent mobilization." They criticized the PSC for refusing to meet with them in the impromptu meetings following the protest and called on the other parliamentary groups to "pressure the Government to return to the negotiating table." They warned that if there is no change, "the school year will not end normally." Despite the scale of this week's teachers' mobilization, the Department of Education has chosen not to issue any statement. The Government, however, has insisted that it is "always" willing "to sit down at the table." However, this willingness to talk with the unions does not imply modifying the agreed-upon terms. As the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, explained in an interview with ARA, Salvador Illa's government "is willing to listen to everyone and talk to everyone, but the agreement is what's on the table." Beyond this message, the Catalan government has also not responded to the unions' demands to meet with President Illa and Minister Dalmau next week.

Dance of numbers

As has been the case in recent teachers' protests, the figures for participation and attendance provided by the organizers and those given by the Barcelona City Police and the Catalan Government are completely different. Regarding strike participation, the Education Department reports 43.77%, while the unions claim that the percentage of teachers who participated reached 85% nationwide. Similarly, the police estimated that 35,000 people attended Friday's demonstration, which filled the stretch from Plaça Tetuán to the Catalan Parliament. In contrast, the organizers claimed that 100,000 teachers were protesting.