Teachers demonstrate in Barcelona to demand decent wages and working conditions

BarcelonaDignity was one of the concepts that appeared most frequently this Saturday at the demonstration by teachers, school staff, and families demanding improvements in the education sector. "You are dignified, you work with dignity," read one of the banners displayed by the approximately 30,000 demonstrators—according to the organizing unions, 8,500 according to the Barcelona City Police—who gathered in Plaça Urquinaona. "Basically, we're demanding a decent wage for all the work we do. We have to deal with bureaucracy, we act as psychologists, nurses; it's not dignified for the children or the families," explained Beatriz, one of the public school teachers who participated in the demonstration. This Saturday's protest was the first unified demonstration organized by unions in this sector since 2022. "You can whistle," a father told his children as the unions' chants and firecrackers echoed as the banners passed by. "A very clear message to Minister Niubó and the Government: today is a turning point; if they don't take action and sit down to negotiate improved working conditions, we will continue to mobilize and will not hesitate to call strikes starting in the second term," stated Iolanda Segura, from the USTEC-STEs union. This message was echoed by the teachers who attended the meeting. Like Joan, a secondary school teacher from Torre Baró, who demanded a "real collective bargaining process" at the Department of Education, and if this doesn't happen, he didn't rule out going on strike this school year. "We feel that our work has neither social nor institutional recognition," the teacher lamented.

Her partner, Laia, head of primary studies at a public school in Barcelona, also denounced the "impressive" bureaucratic burden that teachers have had to face in recent years. This is especially true since the pandemic, when students require a great deal of "emotional" support that falls on the teaching staff. "Many students have special needs," Laia explained, while acknowledging the lack of resources to address this and the saturation the sector is experiencing.

For her part, the CCOO Public Education delegate, Ester Vila, has called for "more resources, which translate into more teaching staff and more educational support staff (PAE), and a larger budget to carry out Catalonia's educational project." "Either negotiation or mobilization," Vila insisted. Teachers feel overwhelmed. "Inclusion isn't viable because we have resources," Beatriz added.

The main slogan of the mobilization was "Enough is enough!" A cry to encapsulate the main demands of the sector, which also brought together families in this day of protest through the center of the Catalan capital: "More pay, more resources, less bureaucracy, lower student-teacher ratios." For the unions, the protest is an "ultimatum" to the Department of Education to come to the negotiating table. After marching along Via Laietana, the demonstration ended in Plaça Sant Jaume, which was overflowing with the sea of teachers and educational staff who filled the center of Barcelona.