This Wednesday, the group of teachers in Catalonia takes to the streets, in the form of a strike and demonstrations, their discontent and protest over the situation that they consider unsustainable in the classrooms. The day of strike – the first major educational protest faced by the Government of Salvador Illa – has started with cuts on multiple roads and main highways, which has aggravated mobility in the early hours, at a time when many people opt for private vehicles in the face of the Rodalies crisis that has already dragged on for three months and has left mobility in public transport very affected.
Starting at 7 in the morning, dozens of teachers have blocked the Ronda Litoral in both directions or the Gran Via of Barcelona at the height of Plaza Cerdà. But outside the capital there have also been outages on the C-17 and C-25 near Gurb, the C-55 in Manresa, the C-37 in Valls, the C-32 in Argentona and the N-II in Vilamalla.
Likewise, union pickets have boycotted the entrance to educational centers and a hundred of them, according to CGT data, have woken up with silicone in their locks. But the teachers began the strike hours earlier with lockdowns in schools in Manresa, Reus, Lleida and Tortosa, according to the unions, where they spent the night.
increasingly serious, is the main complaint on which a series of demands are based, such as salary increases, the decrease in ratios or the reduction of bureaucracy, among others. On this occasion, the protests have spread to many parts of the territory with road closures, which aggravates the mobility crisis resulting from the malfunctioning of the trains.
It was born from a unitary call of all the teaching unions in the . The concerted one is also called to strike, via CC OO, although the majority union of the private USOC has not called because it assures that the negotiations for the improvement of the unions are already on track. The strike day will take shape in the different organized territorial demonstrations, the main one of which will take place in Barcelona, although there are also calls in Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and Tortosa.
For the strike, the big “red line” is the salary improvement. According to the data managed by these organizations, they are the third lowest paid in the State and they demand that the Generalitat revise upwards the regional supplement, a part of their payroll that they claim has been frozen for 20 years. Education agrees to negotiate an increase, as long as the 2026 Budgets are approved.
For teachers, on the other hand, a model that promotes the schooling of children with learning difficulties or disabilities in ordinary centers, rather than in special education schools. The problem is that this requires an entire network of support, resources and specialized personnel that has not reached the classrooms due to its high cost. “But we lack hands to care for all the students and that creates frustration among the teachers, who also feel questioned,” Cristina Amat, director of the Joan Maragall school in Sabadell, summarized to this newspaper on Monday. And to this discomfort among teachers is added the fact that classes are not progressing as they should, due to constant interruptions or that teachers are not able to attend to all the students, thus affecting academic results.
Related to this, the group also demands a reduction in ratios to be able to serve all students more adequately. In 2022, the ratio of 20 students per classroom was already implemented in Preschool 3, a measure that over the years has reached the first grade of primary school. Despite the demand to also apply it to ESO, the stage most punished by overcrowded classrooms, the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, has ruled it out on more than one occasion, alleging lack of space in institutes to create smaller groups.
Another of the demands has been made for a few years. Debureaucratization, but the schools claim that they have not yet noticed anything.
Education Offer
After several disagreements between unions and the Department due to the lack of concrete improvements – the last one, last Thursday -, Education has made a last attempt to stop the protest and assures that it has ready a proposal to improve working conditions, both for teachers and educational care personnel. The offer includes responding to the main demand of the unions: the increase of the regional complement, although it does not specify it. Likewise, the Department agrees to talk about “the reduction of ratios and progress in debureaucratization,” although it links it to “the different social actors contributing their proposals.” Education also proposes more resources for inclusive schools and recognition of the different functions of teachers, without detailing them either. However, he warns that everything depends on whether there are new Budgets.
