Niubó says they will move forward with the agreement despite the teachers' 'no'

BarcelonaTwo hours after learning that 39,500 teachers have voted against the pre-agreement between unions and Education, the minister Esther Niubó, appeared to explain that the measures of the pact would go ahead. "The commitment to implement this agreement is there," she defended, and recalled that "only" USTEC has said it will not sign the agreement, while Professors de Secundària, CCOO, and UGT will. The minister explained this after an emergency meeting with President Salvador Illa.

"We understand that we have done our job by listening to the union representatives and reaching agreements," defended Niubó, who urged them to reconsider: "I feel obliged to ask for an exercise of responsibility," she said. In this regard, she also announced that she would convene a round of contacts with the union forces to "make a joint assessment" of the situation. "We are clear that the country moves forward through agreements, blocking is not positive in any case."

The opposition is asking to negotiate again

The teachers' slamming of the door on the preliminary agreement has resonated strongly this morning in Parliament. The opposition parties have held the executive responsible for the current situation and have asked it to resume negotiations with the unions. From ERC —a government partner for the budgets that began to move forward in Parliament this Wednesday—, Oriol Junqueras assured on X that he "respects" the no from teachers to the agreement with Education, while the spokesperson for the Republicans in the chamber, Ester Capella, has asked the Government to work "to reach a new agreement". Comuns, the other partners of the executive, have gone a step further: Jéssica Albiach believes that the rejection of the preliminary agreement evidences a problem of "model" and has called on the Government to convene parties, unions, and families to make "a change of course".

From Junts, on the contrary, spokesperson Mònica Sales has called on ERC and Comuns to, after the "no" in the teachers' consultation, rectify and not support the Generalitat's budgets, while Salvador Vergés has asked that councilor Esther Niubó step aside from the negotiation and that Salvador Illa take over. Finally, CUP deputy Pilar Castillejo has joined the call for "the reopening of negotiations without imposed limits or constraints" and considers that, after the "monumental slap" from the teachers, the resolution of the crisis must condition the endorsement of the budgets of Junqueras and Albiach. "They should not go ahead if the critical situation of education is not resolved," she said.