Union disunity worsens this Tuesday in Valencia with tensions over the salary agreement that the Ministry of Education, Culture and Universities reached yesterday with the CSIF and ANPE unions. STEPV, CCOO-PV and UGT-PV, which did not sign the agreement yesterday, wanted to know if the review according to the CPI agreed for the last salary increase established in the agreement -50 euros in 2028, after the 75 euros increase in July 2027 and the other 75 euros in January 2027- and the regional secretary of Education, Daniel McEvoy, clarified it right at the start of this afternoon’s new negotiating table meeting, making it clear that the review in 2028 according to the CPI will be “on the total of the 200 euros and not on the last 50, thus attending to the request of the trade union organizations.” Now the non-signatories can choose between joining or denouncing the agreement.
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The text of the agreement that CSIF and ANPE signed yesterday literally says that the increase of 50 euros in the specific regional supplement in January 2028 will be considered as “a minimum. At that time, a further increase of the specific regional supplement will be negotiated, depending on the budget in force that year, indexed to the CPI.”
But the STEPV, CCOO-PV and UGT-PV unions did not understand it that way. And Marc Candela, spokesperson for STEPV, explained before entering that they would try in this new meeting, the sixth while the indefinite teachers’ strike lasts, to have the salary increase included again in the agreement. “Whatever comes out has to be endorsed by all the teachers, so we will put what we agree on to consultation again,” he said. Candela pointed out that if what has finally happened occurs, it is “bad faith” and Education “would be failing the truth and good faith in negotiation.”
Whatever comes out has to be endorsed by all the teachers”
Marc Candela, STEPV union action coordinator
“What was said verbally and what is written does not seem to be what is being spread. And we will do what we consider because it is not honest,” predicted Xelo Valls, from CCOO-PV. Likewise, Maite Tarazona, from UGT-PV, focused on the other points of the negotiation, “all very important, they are what give educational quality to the day-to-day.” The union representative reinforced Candela’s idea that any agreement reached this afternoon at the Ministry headquarters must be consulted with the teachers, “so that they can tell us how they see it, if they see it as correct or still insufficient.”
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What was said verbally and what is written does not seem to be what is being spread”
Xelo Valls, CCOO-PV Education spokesperson
Vandalism at CSIF and ANPE headquarters
To the obvious tension between unions – inside the room, union sources explain the situation is complicated this afternoon – is added the commotion at the door, where the gathered teachers have chanted phrases like ”CSIF i ANPE, fora d’ací” or the already repeated ”Consellera dimissió”. It should be added that both groups, CSIF and ANPE, have reported acts of vandalism at their headquarters this Tuesday. CSIF, for its part, has reported vandalism against its headquarters in Castelló de la Plana, which woke up with graffiti on the facade and the lock sealed with glue. And ANPE also in Castellón has reported “attacks, insults and threats” against the organization and its representatives on social media after the signing of the salary agreement, as well as graffiti on its headquarters. This morning, on the windows of both union headquarters in the city, the word ”rates” could be seen written in green spray paint.
Meanwhile, the mobilization calendar remains active and this Tuesday various decentralized events have been held in the territory such as in the capital of La Plana, where striking teachers have blocked traffic on Chatellerault Avenue with desks, taking classes outside the classroom. All this on day 12 of an indefinite strike that continues to strain the educational community of the Valencian Community.
