Some 52,000 teachers and 585,000 students of non-university public education in Madrid are called to participate in two days of strike on May 8 and 21 to demand the reduction of teaching hours.
According to the Minister of Education, Science and Universities, Emilio Viciana, the regional Executive maintains “its hand extended” to avoid this strike and that at no time have they left the negotiating table.
The four major unions in the sector – CCOO, ANPE, CSIF and UGT – announced on April 8 the call for these two days of strike by teaching staff, after “the unilateral break by the regional government in the negotiation of a new agreement sectorial”.
“If the regional government does not reverse the situation, the calendar of mobilizations will be extended, putting the completion of this course and the start of the next at risk,” the unions of the Education Sector Board advanced.
Their demands are the reduction of teachers’ teaching hours to 18 hours in Secondary, Vocational Training and Special Regime; the reduction of teachers’ teaching hours to 23 hours in Early Childhood and Primary; salary equalization with the rest of the autonomous communities; the reduction of ratios, the provision of the necessary quotas for measures to address diversity and the implementation of a shock plan against bureaucracy.
With these same demands, to which is added the fight against segregation, after three days of strike in February, the Less Teaching Platform and the minority education unions CGT, CNT and STEM have also called for two days of strike on the May 8 and 21.
The Community of Madrid has established minimum services, which the unions have described as “disproportionate and abusive”: director and head of studies, one teacher for every fifty students, one teacher for every ninety students and one teacher for every twenty-five students with needs. special educational
In unity of action with minority organizations, the Student Union has called on Secondary, Baccalaureate and Vocational Training students to participate in the two days of strike on May 8 and 21.
Along with the demands already mentioned, the Students’ Union asks for an urgent financing plan for public schools, a “drastic” increase in the scholarship budget, the creation of 30,000 free public Vocational Training places, “not one euro for private-concerted” and the reversal of all cuts and privatizations.
This May 8 there will be a rally at 12:00 p.m. in front of the Ministry of Education, located at number 32 Calle de Alcalá, and, at 6:00 p.m., a demonstration under the motto “For the teachers, for public education”, which will run from Plaza de Neptuno to Puerta del Sol, passing through Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Cibeles and Calle de Alcalá.
Likewise, mobilizations and information pickets have been organized in Fuenlabrada, Torrejón de Ardoz, Leganés, Arganda del Rey and Móstoles.
