The indefinite strike in Valencian public education experienced a new day of political pressure and mobilization this Thursday at the doors of Les Corts Valencianes. Hundreds of teachers gathered from early morning near the regional parliament to demand that the Generalitat reopen negotiations and reach an agreement to end the conflict, which is now entering its ninth consecutive day.
The protest coincided with the plenary session of Les Corts and, especially, with the control session of the president of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, in which the Minister of Education, Carmen Ortí, was present. Throughout the gathering, chants of “minister resign” were repeated, while the demonstrators wore the usual green t-shirts in defense of public education and displayed banners with slogans such as “Ortí, listen, we are in revolt,” “The minister in the thinking corner,” or “Burnt teachers, dark future.”
The mobilization took place just one day after the breakdown of negotiations between the Ministry and the teachers’ unions. Education decided to leave the table after the unions refused to sign the proposal put forward by the regional administration to call off the strike.
The coordinator of Union Action of STEPV, Marc Candela, insisted that the conflict remains open and directly called for the intervention of the head of the Consell. “We have come here to tell Les Corts and president Juanfran Pérez Llorca that the conflict continues, that we have not reached an agreement, and that negotiations must be reopened,” he said to the media. Candela stated that if the Ministry “is incapable” of resolving the situation, the president must intervene.
The union leader also responded to Ortí’s statements, who had asked the unions for “a gesture” to unblock the situation. “The gesture is for her to leave Les Corts and start negotiating,” he said, while reiterating that the unions remain open to dialogue. “We are waiting for her. Let her come down from Les Corts and let’s negotiate,” he urged.
Representatives of CCOO and UGT expressed similar views. The general secretary of Education of CCOO-PV, Xelo Valls, said that what the unions rejected was “a propaganda operation” and demanded “clear” proposals from the Consell. “Madam minister, you don’t have to tell us what to do,” she stated.
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For her part, the head of Education of UGT-PV, Maite Tarazona, recalled that it was the Ministry itself that left the negotiating table and defended the legality of the online consultation carried out among the teaching staff, in which thousands of teachers supported maintaining the strike. “They must be the ones to take the next step,” she emphasized.
One of the most significant aspects of the day was the presence of members of management teams from public schools, who came to Les Corts with letters of resignation. The directors’ associations had already warned days earlier of a “coordinated resignation” if no agreement was reached with the educational administration.
Director Jaume Olmos explained that the management teams have decided to resign because they do not want to “keep covering the holes left by the Ministry.” According to him, more than one hundred management teams have already submitted their resignations, representing hundreds of educational positions supported, he said, by about 3,500 teachers and thousands of families. “We do it out of coherence and with our heads held high because it is for the students, for the families, and for our colleagues,” he stated.
The protest also received support from opposition political representatives. The spokespeople of PSPV and Compromís, José Muñoz and Joan Baldoví, came to talk with the demonstrators, as did the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, and the regional coordinator of the purple party, Teresa Pérez.
Belarra described the mobilization as an “example of dignity” of Valencian public education and stated that the educational community has said “enough” after years of “de facto frozen salaries and impossible ratios.” Meanwhile, the unions continue the protests and warn that the pressure will continue until formal negotiations with the Generalitat are reopened.
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