The Teaching Federation of Workers’ Commissions (CC.OO.) has called for a four-day strike this Wednesday among early childhood education professionals, of which 95% are women. It is a “largely feminized sector” in which 80% are educators, while 10% are teachers and graduates. The remaining percentage is made up of other groups, such as cooks and maintenance workers.
The secretary of the federation, Francisco García Suárez, notified this during an information meeting in Madrid in which he asked that collective bargaining be resumed, paralyzed “almost two years ago.” He highlighted that the educators, who make up 85%, earn 1,028 euros, “below the interprofessional minimum wage”, for a 38-hour work day, insufficient to prepare classes. These are hired in September and fired in July so as not to pay for the next two months, in which activity is minimal. To which García Suárez points out as common practice.
Francisco García Suárez claims that the strike is “justified”, due to the improvement of the salary of the workers in “enormously precarious” conditions with “marathon days” of “direct” attention to the student, subtracting their free time to do their work. Personal life. This is how the Workers’ Commissions want to ask for the “dignification of the sector”, “which will result in the improvement of the quality of education.”
The secretary of Private and Socio-educational Services of the federation, Pedro Ocaña Muñoz, has also added to the call, stating that “this strike is to claim the relevance and recognition of the sector, they are not daycare centers, they are educational centers.” Educators have to enhance students’ skills and prepare the next stages. All this is not valued ” he declared.
The administrations have proposed minimum services that Ocaña describes as abusive, arguing that they are “essential services.” Many early childhood education workers were also present at the press conference, pointing out that their work “is vocational,” but with bad conditions. They complain of non-payment and not having time to prepare the activities. They also highlight that they are not “parking lot children” and are trained for “this professional educational stage, it has been scientifically proven.”
CC.OO. It does not close the door to more calls for strikes if the dialogue with the administrations does not progress, although they take into account the susceptibility of families. “In June there were already partial strikes and families were already aware of it,” said Ocaña.
