Protests in schools are not dying down. This Tuesday marks the start of the first of 16 planned educational strikes in the public sector called by the unions. Many are local, corresponding to educational territorial zones, but today’s, May 12, those on the 27th of the same month, and June 5 will be for all of Catalonia. In practice, each center can strike for five days in these remaining 40 days to finish the school year.
The strikes will be accompanied by road and highway blockades early in the morning, between 7 and 8 a.m., with the idea of disrupting traffic on several main roads and the main entrances to Barcelona.
There will be road blockades between 7 and 8 a.m. to disrupt traffic on several main roads and the main entrances to Barcelona
The teachers’ demonstration will begin at 10:30 a.m., divided into three columns that will converge at Sant Jaume square at noon. The first will leave from Espanya square and will go along Gran Via and Ronda de Universitat.
The second column, also from Espanya square, will walk along Paral·lel avenue, turn onto Colom and Avinyó until the final destination, Sant Jaume square.
Finally, the Besós column will start its route at Clot Station, pass through Meridiana, Aragó, Pau Claris, and Urquinaona where at 12 p.m. it will join the first march to descend via Via Laietana to the Palau de la Generalitat. Teachers from the concerted sector will depart directly from Urquinaona between 11 and 12 hours.
The unions want to improve the results of previous strikes where participation reached between 30 and 50 percent. Especially in tomorrow’s strike after the ministry called them to a sectoral table next Thursday where the situation will be analyzed.
The unions want to go into Thursday’s meeting with the ministry with good results
Although the Government insists that the agreement signed with CC.OO. and UGT, which invests 2 billion more in education, is “historic,” it wants to ease the discontent of teachers who demand higher pay and improvements in inclusive schooling.
Wednesday will be the turn for Baix Llobregat and Penedès, Thursday for Girona and Central Catalonia, and Friday for Lleida, Alt Pirineu i Aran. Schools in Barcelona are called for Monday, May 18, and later for June 2. At the school level, these protests coincide with the end of the school year with important events such as exams, camps, graduations, and other activities.
This is the final burst in a series of protests that have marked the entire school year. They began in autumn, with a demonstration in Barcelona on Saturday, November 15. After Christmas, there were protests on January 24 and February 11, before the signing of the educational pact with the Government. After the agreement, there was a whole week of territorial protests that ended in a massive demonstration on March 20. Last week, education for ages 0-3 also gathered thousands of protesters.
