A week of strikes in education begins: how will it affect you?

BarcelonaOne week after the Government It will close an agreement to improve teachers' salary conditions with CCOO and UGT but without USTEC —the majority union—This Monday, teachers are once again called to mobilize in protests that will last all week. The strike, which will be held each day in a different part of the country and will end on Friday with a demonstration in Barcelona, ​​comes at a time of some tension within the education sector—especially on social media—and with a clear disagreement between unions following the breakdown of the unified movement.

On the one hand, USTEC, CGT, and Intersindical, after rejecting the fourth proposal that Salvador Illa's government put on the table for the education unions, decided to ask teachers directly what they thought of the agreement. In an open survey sent to all the email addresses of the Education staff, they asked about the agreement, and the result was overwhelming: More than 40,000 teachers—approximately half of all teachers and professors in the system and 95% of those who participated in the consultation—said No to the agreement, while some 2,000 expressed that they view him favorably.

"The message is clear. We, the education staff, reject a proposal that falls short in terms of salaries, student-teacher ratios, inclusive education, curriculum, and job security," declared USTEC on Friday after learning the results of the consultation. "This is a direct message to Councilor Dalmau and President Isla: their 'national agreement' was a farce. [...] We demand a reversal," the union insisted in a statement.

On the other hand, the CCOO and UGT unions (and the government) have gone to great lengths to explain their reasons for supporting what President Isla called a national agreement. The UGT sees the proposal—which, among other things, includes a €3,000 salary increase for teachers over four years—as a starting point and "an opportunity to continue improving the working conditions of this group," while the CCOO maintains that they could not afford to "let these measures slip by."

One teacher for every three classrooms

In any case, after weeks of back and forth, the USTEC, Secondary School Teachers, CGT, and Intersindical unions have finally decided to maintain the strike call throughout this week, from March 16 to 20. The Generalitat (Catalan government) has already decreed the minimum services that must be maintained in preschool, primary, and secondary schools, including one member of the management team per center. In the case of special education centers, half the staff must be present, and in nurseries, 33%.

The strike will begin this Monday in schools in Barcelona—unions warn that they will block access to the Catalan capital first thing in the morning—and will also affect the rest of the Barcelonès and Baix Llobregat regions. On Tuesday, the strike will take place in Penedès, Tarragona, and Terres de l'Ebre; on Wednesday, in Alt Pirineu i Aran, Central Catalonia, and Lleida; and on Thursday, strikes will be called in Girona, Maresme, Vallès Oriental, and Vallès Occidental. Finally, the week of protests will end on Friday with a strike in all schools and institutes across Catalonia and a demonstration in Barcelona at noon.