About 200 teachers and professionals from early childhood education centers for ages 0 to 3 gathered yesterday in the Plaça de la Paeria in Lleida to demand labor improvements. The protest also called for a reduction in ratios, more resources for inclusive education, and the gratuity of this educational stage.
The mobilization was called by the Platform 0-3 together with the unions USTEC-STEs, UGT, CCOO, Professors de Secundària, CGT and Intersindical. The demonstrators marched through the city center with banners that bore the slogan We are not a nursery, we are education.
Minimum wages and lack of support in classrooms
Santi Balcells, from UGT, denounced the precarious situation in the centers. He assured that there are teachers in level I2 with twenty students without any type of support. Furthermore, he pointed out that in the smallest towns, a maximum of three professionals earn the minimum wage of 1,221 euros despite the great responsibility they assume.
"There are teachers in I2 with 20 students without any type of support" - Santi Balcells, UGT representative
Rosa Montané, representative of CCOO, stated that this highly feminized sector is precarious and suffers from a very significant lack of investment. For his part, Emili Llorente, spokesperson for CGT, described the situation as an emergency and criticized the absence of solutions from the Government.
The teacher Maria Dolors summarized the collective's demands. She proposed as immediate options the incorporation of another educator or the dignification of the 0-3 sector.
Adhesion in Tàrrega and tension over infiltrations
In Tàrrega, the three municipal nursery schools El Niu, La Pau and El Triangle adhered to the strike, maintaining minimum services. The workers registered a proposal with their demands at the town hall to be debated at the next municipal plenary session as a motion.
The Lleida City Council estimated a 20 percent turnout in its centers. A municipal spokesperson indicated that the local administration already applies most of the demands presented by the group.
This concentration is the first in a series of strikes in the educational sector that will continue next week. The context of the mobilization also includes the controversy over the presence of two Mossos d'Esquadra agents who infiltrated a teachers' assembly in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Junts per Catalunya, ERC, En Comú Podem, CUP and various unions demanded explanations for the presence of the undercover agents. The Mossos d'Esquadra stated that they act within their powers and in accordance with the law, while the Government expressed its willingness to provide the appropriate explanations.