After a march on Tuesday night 2o September, on Wednesday 21 September thousands of teachers stayed off the job in Madrid. According to UGT union official Virginia Fernandez in Madrid 80% of the government’s teachers did not show up to work in classrooms. Teachers in schools for children aged 12 to 18 are furious with Madrid’s conservative-led government for budget cuts up to €120 million that will reduce staff and force them to teach two hours more per week, giving them less time for tutoring and other educational tasks. Human chains made up of thousands of protesting teachers, parents and their children were formed around the ministries of education in the capital for the central government and for Madrid’s regional government. At the same time in the northwest region of Galicia teachers at both the elementary and secondary level went on strike to protest increased classroom hours. Union leader Marcelino Brea said 75% of teachers honored the union call.
English: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/markets/spanish-labor-unions ...
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.