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Madrid insists that classes should continue as normal during the strike
The strike does not mean that all activity in Madrid's public centres will stop. Zarzalejo explains what those who go to work should do. Minimum service staff will be responsible for supervision. The councillor calls for union dialogue.
The minimum service staff will have a support and supervisory role in educational centres. If they are supervising groups other than their own, they must ensure the safety of the students and make sure they remain on the premises. They are also required to carry out monitoring duties and fulfil the tasks set out in the centre’s regulations.
For teachers who do not join the strike, the instructions from the Department are clear: anyone who attends during their usual hours and does not explicitly inform management that they are exercising their right to strike must teach their classes as normal. The Education Councillor of the Comunidad de Madrid, Mercedes Zarzalejo, maintains that the right to work and the right to education for students must also be guaranteed.
Zarzalejo sent a letter to teachers to thank them for their work and to address questions about the indefinite strike called by some public education unions. In the letter, she states that her department has maintained dialogue before and during the strike. She also argues that classes can continue and that teachers can keep progressing with their syllabuses.
The councillor cites as an example the Acuerdo Sectorial signed on 4 April 2025 by CCOO y ANPE, together with CSIF y UGT. She explains that the agreement is valid until 2028 and includes a monitoring committee, an implementation schedule, and guaranteed funding. Zarzalejo says that it is being implemented in full.
She also states that she continues to meet with the representative unions in the Mesa Sectorial to negotiate improvements. Among these, she mentions the horizontal teaching career, which would involve an additional pay supplement.
The letter also refers to the Normas de Convivencia, Organización y Funcionamiento of each centre. This framework sets out other tasks that may be assigned to minimum service staff. Zarzalejo distinguishes these supervisory duties from teaching with regular groups. When teachers are assigned their own students, they may continue with their academic programmes.