convened on March 15, 16, 17, 29 and 30

The schools and institutes of Catalonia they will go to the strike in march on the 15th, 16th, 17th (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and on the 29th and 30th (Tuesday and Wednesday) in protest against the policies of the Department of Education, starting with the new school calendar. These are the dates announced this Wednesday by the convening unions (Ustec, UGT, CCOO, Aspepc, Intersindical, CGT and USOC) in an act in front of the headquarters of the ‘conselleria’, on Via Augusta in Barcelona. These days of strike in March are added, but do not coincide, with two other strikes called in the educational field: on March 8, on the occasion of Women’s Day, and on March 23, in protest at the 25% ruling of Spanish in the classroom and in defense of immersion. In addition, this March the open days in educational centers and pre-registration in infant, primary and ESO and From March 16 to 20, the Saló de l’Ensenyament is held, annual meeting of Catalan students to learn about the training offer. In short, a busy March in the world of education in Catalonia.

The trigger for the strike has been the new school calendar for the 2022-23 academic year, announced without prior consultation with the educational community and that the ‘minister’ Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray is determined to maintain. He supposes advancing the start of the course to September 5, instead of starting after the Diada. The Government adduces reasons of pedagogy, equity and conciliation. The teachers think that they will not have time to prepare the course well since they will run out of that first week of September that they had. Educació replies that they will have the templates closed a month before, in July, and that in September, as there will be an intensive day, they will be able to dedicate an hour a day after classes to finish preparing the course. Totally insufficient solution, according to the teachers, who point out that traditionally those first days of September they hold teacher meetings, transfer information from students and do training.

The unions have read a joint manifesto in which they have expressed their rejection of the “attitude of contempt”, “impressive and authoritarian” of the ‘conseller’ Cambray. “Our patience has run out. The two years of the pandemic without the resources necessary, added to the cuts of more than 10 years ago and the modus operandi of this Administration have caused us to mobilize”, they have pointed out. “The absolute lack of negotiating will of the Department leaves us no other way out to achieve sufficient pressure to reverse the cuts and obtain prospects of improvements”, they added. “The pandemic has shown the deficiencies of the system. We don’t want any change without investment,” said the spokeswoman for Ustec, Iolanda Segura.

Mobilizations “in crescendo”

The organizers will only consider calling off the strike if Educació accepts remove the order from the new calendar and start trading from scratch. In the event that Cambray sticks to its guns, they announce that the mobilizations will go “in crescendo”, with the threat of do not start the course normally on September 5. “There is a long way to go for that day, but the Department is intransigent.” And they have demanded the resignation of Cambray. “That they put a ‘conseller’ who is willing to speak”, they demanded. “Cambray does not respect teachers. He does not deserve the position,” added Segura.

Segura has called teachers to join the strike. “It’s time to hit the table and say ‘this far we’ve come’,” he said. As to whether there will be a tracing high, Lorena Martinez, from UGTpointed out that there is a lot outrage among teachers, for the management of the pandemic, of the covid protocols and now for a whole series of changes that fall on them without even having time to process them. “Only the authoritarian style of the ‘conseller’ has been missing”, he pointed out Carles Vilallonga, USOC. Marta Minguella, of the CGTit abounded that we are before a change of educational model that Educació wants to impose “unilaterally”. “Education involves many actors. Things cannot be done like this.” “It is a strike for the benefit of students and the educational system,” Segura stressed. And to the detriment of teachers’ pockets: each day of unemployment will cost a teacher an average of between 80 and 100 euros.

This very Wednesday the unions have planted to the Department, which had called a meeting of the education sector table to address the calendar. “It is a table convened only to approve the calendar, not to negotiate anything. That is why we have decided in a unitary way not to appear at a table that is only a procedure,” they have explained. “We will not go to a table where nothing moves, where nothing can be negotiated,” they have insisted.

Despite the fact that the educational community asked Cambray within the framework of the School Council for a one year moratorium, he has rejected it. The family association aFFac assured a few days ago, after a meeting with the ‘conseller’, that he had transferred his willingness to re-evaluate the measure. However, Educació categorically denied that the progress of the course was going to be reviewed. aFFac based its claim on the issue of the canteen and extracurricular activities, these activities that family associations organize in many public schools. The advancement of the course and the intensive day in September leave them out. They also fear that this is not limited only to September, but to the rest of the course.

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Although the calendar has been the straw that broke the camel’s back, the teachers’ unions have more reason to call this 5-day strike. One of them is the new competency curricula for primary, ESO and Baccalaureate, which will be approved in the summer and will come into force in September; some deadlines that teachers consider too tight to apply them with guarantees. Another reason is the requirement of the C2 level of Catalan to be able to teach in Catalonia. The “chronified” cuts for more than 10 years, the lack of investment (they demand 6% of GDP for education), the ratiosthe ruling of the TSJC of 25% in Spanish, the lack or the interim are other reasons that have pushed the unions to convene these days of protest.