News
Education strikes continue in Catalonia after the meeting with Educació fails
Negotiations between teachers' unions and the Generalitat de Catalunya's Department of Education remain deadlocked, and the planned strikes in schools and secondary schools will go ahead. The meeting held this Thursday ended without agreement after almost three hours of talks, leaving the dispute open and increasing uncertainty in the final stretch of the school year.
The lack of understanding is keeping the pressure on thousands of families, who are still waiting for possible last-minute changes in order to organise schedules, work-life balance and school activities. Many schools in Barcelona and the metropolitan area are already preparing new days of mobilisation for the coming days.
One of the main points of friction remains the rejection by unions such as USTEC, the Sindicat de Professors de Secundària e Intersindical, of the agreement previously signed by other trade-union organisations. That internal division has made negotiations even more difficult and, for now, puts a joint solution further out of reach.
The next meeting between the parties will be held on Tuesday 19 May. Both the Departament and the unions acknowledge that it will be an important meeting in an effort to ease tensions, although at this stage nobody takes a quick agreement for granted.
Meanwhile, the conflict is already being felt inside and outside the classrooms. Some schools are concerned about the impact strikes may have on assessments, end-of-year activities and organising the end of term. Fatigue is also growing among some teaching staff, who have been mobilised for weeks.
Educational conflicts tend to have a particularly visible impact in Catalonia, where mobilisation in the teaching sector has repeatedly shaped public debate in recent years. Barcelona, because of its concentration of schools and number of pupils, is once again at the centre of a negotiation that combines working conditions, education management and political pressure.