Teachers' strike: road closures in Barcelona and thousands of protesters on the first day of demonstrations

BarcelonaThe standoff between teachers and the government of Salvador Illa saw its first street protest on Monday, marking the start of a strike that It will last throughout the week in various parts of the country. The rejection of the agreement—deemed "insufficient" by the Ustec union—between the Department of Education and the CCOO and UGT unions to improve working conditions for staff and the situation in classrooms has resulted in road blockades on access routes to Barcelona early this morning and a demonstration by thousands of teachers who flooded Plaça Sant Jaume in the Catalan capital.

The first day of mobilizations in Catalan education, which took place this Monday in schools and institutes under the Territorial Services of Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, and the Barcelona Education Consortium, saw a 31% participation rate according to the Catalan government, a figure that the unions have raised to 7%. The discrepancy in figures also extended to the count of teachers who took to the streets: the Barcelona City Police reported 8,000 teachers demonstrating, while the organizers—Ustec, Secondary School Teachers, the CGT, and the Intersindical—claimed 25,000 education professionals. Teachers were called to protest from early morning. Several teachers blocked the C-31 highway at the border between Badalona and Sant Adrià de Besòs and the Gran Via at Can Batlló in Barcelona starting at 7:00 a.m. Shortly after, another group of teachers blocked the Ronda de Dalt ring road near Valldaura, although they were dispersed by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) soon after. Access to the A-2 highway in Cornellà de Llobregat was also blocked. The disruptions lasted until after 9 a.m.

Hours later, at midday, thousands of teachers gathered in Barcelona for a demonstration that began in Plaça Urquinaona. Chanting slogans like "By fighting, by fighting, we are also educating," "Public resources for public schools," and "It's not an agreement, it's a betrayal," the teachers began their slow march down Via Laietana towards Plaça de Sant Jaume. Two of the teachers at the demonstration were Sara and Oriol, who have been teachers for seven and two years respectively. Both were protesting against an agreement that "doesn't represent them." "There are still insufficient resources, high student-teacher ratios, and low salaries," they asserted.

"Faced with such minimal resources, we take to the streets to demand the resources needed to educate children," argues Victoria, a teacher in Barcelona for ten years, adding, "Despite the demands, salaries are the least of our problems; there are many other factors." Gemma, also a teacher for nearly a decade, agrees: "It's a privilege to see so many teachers gathered to demand improvements for the sector."

Ahead of the unified demonstration planned for this Friday across Catalonia, unions and teachers have stated they will once again fill the streets with their demands. "With this nonsense about vocation, we're working more hours than ever and nobody sees it," explained Lidia, another of the strikers in the capital, who also called on families to join their fight. "In the end, we're fighting for our sons and daughters," she insisted.

Education reiterates that the agreement "is good"

On behalf of the unions, Iolanda Segura, spokesperson for USTEC, has asked the department to "stop making a fool of itself with fabricated and impossible [strike participation] figures." "The number of people gathered is very large, and in fact, a very massive turnout was already expected," she said, adding that "it will be the teachers who speak and bring the Government to the negotiating table." In this regard, Segura recalled the Education Department's decision not to negotiate with the largest union and demanded that the department "do what they should do: sit down and negotiate." Meanwhile, sources from the Education Department reiterated that the agreement with CCOO and UGT "is a good agreement." "We believe that the agreement addresses all the demands that the teachers are making. The Government's response has been courageous, responsible, and comprehensive," they stated. Furthermore, they maintained that the strike action had been "called prior to the agreement announced last week."

Cuts and entrances in public buildings

Early this morning, in the case of the Ronda de Dalt ring road, the protesters gathered near Vall d'Hebron, but encountered a heavy police presence and officers began checking their identification. In response, they moved to Valldaura, where they ultimately blocked the road in both directions. The USTEC union has demanded explanations from the Catalan government regarding the police intervention and warned that they will escalate the conflict if the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) "touch a single teacher": "We will closely monitor violations of the right to protest and to strike," the organization warned in a statement. "Give orders to the Mossos d'Esquadra not to charge at any of the protests we have underway. At the slightest blow we receive, we will escalate the conflict. We are prepared to paralyze the country," Segura added in a message addressed to the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, and the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon.

While in Badalona some 200 protesters walked along the shoulder of the highway until they gained access and blocked it, in a protest that lasted about an hour, on Barcelona's Gran Via more than a hundred people blocked traffic in both directions, chanting "education strike." The protesters in this latter blockade carried banners with messages such as "Fighting is also educating," "Performing miracles isn't on the resume," and "Public and quality education," according to ACN. Initially, there was no police presence, but shortly after the blockade began, about eight Mossos d'Esquadra vans arrived. Some buses and private vehicles leaving Barcelona for the Baix Llobregat region turned around to find alternative routes. However, many vehicles were stopped on the roads leading into the Catalan capital. As part of Monday's strike, some 300 teachers and professors also gathered in front of the PSC headquarters in Barcelona's Poblenou district to protest the agreement between the Catalan government and the CCOO and UGT unions and to continue demanding improved working conditions and salaries. The demonstrators had arranged to meet at the Laguna metro station and marched to the Socialist Party headquarters, which was cordoned off by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), where they set off firecrackers and chanted slogans such as "Illa, ens dones" (Illa, give us women). small change", "Shame", "Where are they, we don't see them, CCOO and UGT" and "We want the salary increase for the Mossos d'Esquadra."

Meanwhile, another group of teachers briefly entered the offices of the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) headquarters, located on Gran Via.

The mobilization comes on the first day of the territorialized strikes called this week by USTEC, Secondary School Teachers, CGT and Intersindical, in response to the "insufficient" agreement between the Education Ministry and CCOO and UGT.