With exactly one week left until the start of the school year in Catalonia, the spokesperson for the Ustec union, Iolanda Segura, has practically ruled out the possibility of reaching a last-minute agreement to call off a new day of teachers’ strike. Asked about the chances of suspending the protest, she was blunt: “From 1 to 10, chances of calling it off? 1,” she stated in an interview with SER Catalunya.
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Ustec is scheduled to meet with the Education Minister, Esther Niubó, this Thursday as part of the round of talks with unions, meetings that began this Tuesday with CCOO, UGT, and Secondary School Teachers. Segura leaves no room for understanding: “This strike will go ahead; there is no time now for the ministry to come up with a proposal that unblocks the situation, because, in the end, it shows that the discontent is still very present.”
The union representative expresses disappointment with the department led by Niubó because, as she recounted, Ustec had conveyed the need to stay in contact and “since July 13, [the ministry] has not said a word.” According to Segura, the strike on the first day of school “could have been avoided if there had been political will.” “We will probably go to the meeting, but we still need to finalize how,” she said. Ustec has asked the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to get involved in the negotiations, but they do not expect him at the meeting. “We don’t believe the president will show up, although he should take the reins in this matter, because it is a national issue,” she pointed out.
Segura emphasized the maximum demands of the largest union in public education, such as providing the system with 15,000 additional professionals and the need to have fewer students per classroom: 15 students in preschool and primary, and a maximum of 22-23 in secondary.” She also stated that the salary issue is not completely resolved, because the salary update clause is still pending negotiation, so that wages increase according to the cost of living.
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