Claustros of 200 schools send a letter to families to respond to the one sent by Education

BarcelonaOne month after the Government signed an improvement in conditions for teachers and the situation in classrooms with CCOO and UGT – but not with the rest of the unions or with USTEC, which is the majority – the agreement continues to cause repercussions. This Tuesday USTEC sent all teachers a new email to ask again if it is necessary to continue with the mobilizations. Just as the union did in the last strikes that achieved massive support, USTEC has decided to leave the next steps in the hands of the collective. In this way, they ask teachers three questions: if they are willing to go on "more strikes", how many days of strike they would go on – with options between one day and more than 10 – and what type of strike they would prefer.

The union proposes that the consultation "should serve to decide whether it is necessary to repeat a cycle of strikes like the one in March or to take a further step and prepare for an indefinite strike". The majority union in the education sector demands that the Government reopen negotiations beyond the agreement reached with CCOO and UGT, but it also raises its demands: it asks for a salary improvement this current academic year and, for the next one, a deployment of "effective measures to reinforce educational quality", mentioning the reduction of ratios, more resources to support students, and a reduction in bureaucracy. "A new cycle of strikes is a central tool if we really want to have the necessary strength to force the department to rectify", assures the union in a statement.

The faculty meetings respond

While unions and Education continue in a stalemate regarding negotiations, both school faculties and families themselves have also begun to take sides. On one hand, after the Government sent a letter last week to families of public and private schools explaining the details of the agreement with CCOO and UGT (which included the salary that teachers will earn), now the faculties of about 200 public schools and institutes have sent their response to the families. In a bulletin very similar to the one the Government sent to families' emails, the faculties present the information as a “contrast of measures”.

“It is not about confronting, but about providing context and transparency,” they defend before breaking down the aspects of the measures that they believe are not clear in the Education email. For example, they criticize that the economic agreement falls far short of the 6% of GDP investment stipulated by the Catalan Education Law, and that this translates into “a lack of support staff, limited resources to attend to diversity, and schools that continue to operate at the limit”.

They also denounce that the assertion that by the year 2029 Catalan teachers will be among the best paid in the State – with an increase of 3,000 gross annual euros – does not take into account that during this time other communities will also raise salaries and that the increase will depend “on there being approved budget each year”. Furthermore, in the bulletin they warn that the compensation of 50 euros per night foreseen for teachers only anticipates two teachers per group, when in early childhood education a ratio of 1 adult per 8 children is needed, and normally, groups are of more than 16 children.

The AFAs make a move

Precisely the threat of stopping excursions and camps as a pressure tactic, which more than 500 schools have already announced for the coming academic year, has also prompted some AFAs to act. Although they support the teachers' demands, they warn that leaving students without outings would increase inequalities.

This is the case of the AFA of the Institut Escola Pallerola in Sant Celoni, which last week issued a statement asking the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, to sit down and negotiate with the teachers, and insisted that camps are part of learning. "The opportunity arose to make a manifesto and declare: hey, we agree with you [the teachers], but don't leave us without camps," details Sònia del Rio, a mother from IE Pallerola and AFA member. She explains that much work has been done among the AFAs of the Sant Celoni schools with the town council to ensure that all children can go on camps, and that not doing so now would be a grievance, especially for vulnerable students.

Beyond excursions and camps, the Pallerola AFA, as well as various AFAs from Maresme, Baix Llobregat, and Vallès, have sided with the teachers to demand improvements in their conditions and in the educational system in general. "We believe that what they are demanding is fair because we see that in the day-to-day running of the school there is a lack of resources [in their case, they have been waiting seven years for a new building], and we see a lack of staff for inclusive education. In the end, everything falls on the motivation, the will, and the hours that the teachers put in," defends del Rio.

In fact, the AFA also views unfavorably that Education has sent information directly to families about the agreement. "They cannot communicate an agreement if a large part of it is not in agreement," warns the AFA member.