The Minister of Education, Science and Universities of the Community of Madrid, Mercedes Zarzalejo, and the Labor Platform of Nursery Schools will meet this Thursday at 4:30 p.m., after more than a month of indefinite strike in the region.
It was on April 7 when the professionals in the sector started the mobilizations to demand salary improvements, reduction of ratios, the educational pair, and recognition of their professional category. In recent days they had warned that “they were not going back to the classrooms” until their working conditions improved.
During those weeks, the workers had gathered in front of the educational centers visited by Zarzalejo. At one event, the minister approached a group of professionals to assure them that she was “working” on the demands they had raised within her “competences.”
“When I finish meeting with them, I will sit down with you to inform you and explain what is on the table. And whether you agree with that or not. But please let me finish working on your demands with the sector that is sitting at the tables,” she requested.
Likewise, in a statement at the Assembly of Madrid, she accused the left of provoking a “devastating” indefinite strike in nursery schools with “lies and taking advantage of them without any objective reason.” The workers, present in the chamber, shouted “dignity” for the first cycle and were expelled from the guest gallery.
After receiving the proposal for a meeting, the spokesperson of the Labor Platform of Nursery Schools, Rosa Marín, told Europa Press that it was “an achievement” of the indefinite strike and that they expected a proposal to improve their working conditions.
Labor conflict
For her part, Zarzalejo emphasized this Wednesday from the Royal House of the Post Office, headquarters of the regional government, that the indefinite strike in nursery schools is a “labor conflict” that must be resolved between unions and companies.
The highest official of Madrid education announced that she will inform the professionals of nursery schools about the meetings she has held with unions and companies in the sector over the past six weeks.
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In this regard, she defended that the regional government was the first to meet with the workers on March 25 in a meeting where they “listened” to their demands. Asked if she expects the indefinite strike to be called off, the minister said that the positions that need to come closer are those of the representative unions and the employers who signed the collective agreement a year ago.
“It is in that agreement where the salary scales of these workers are reflected, which is their main demand, in addition to salary scales that reflect wages that are unequal, that are different for the same functions. But that inequality was not established by me nor is it applied by the Community of Madrid,” she insisted.
The minister points to the Ministry
Likewise, Zarzalejo recalled that the competence to reduce ratios is “exclusive” to the central government since 2020. “We have requested a meeting twice with the Minister of Education (Milagros Tolón), who is the one especially responsible for ratio reductions. We have not received a response,” she lamented.
Regarding the direct management of the Community of Madrid, she emphasized that the educators and teachers have salaries “much higher than those reflected in the collective agreement.” She added that all nursery schools in the region have the educational pair.
Gathering before the meeting
Before the meeting, the Labor Platform of Nursery Schools has called on the professionals to hold a gathering at 4 p.m. in front of the Ministry of Education, Science and Universities to “support the first negotiation meeting.”
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“After six weeks showing their strength in the streets, we hope to finally get a solution to be able to return to the classrooms. The children and families are eager to return to normality,” the workers emphasized.
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