National: Indefinite Strike of Dissident Teachers against Labor Reform

In Oaxaca, dissident teachers demand a negotiation table with the government. Photo @ Ejecentral

On May 15, Teachers’ Day, teachers opposing education reform and the evaluation of teachers called an indefinite strike. Thousands of teachers in 23 states of the Mexican Republic mobilized to hold marches and sit-ins.

In Mexico City, members of the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) and supporters held their demonstration in front of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob). In Chiapas, thousands of teachers from sections 7 and 40 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) marched in Tuxtla Gutierrez, where they took over four radio stations and three television stations to “spread the news about the problems of teaching and to call on parents, social organizations and the general public to join the struggle”, according to accounts in La Jornada. It should be remembered that the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit withheld payment and froze the bank accounts at savings banks of thousands of teachers of Section 7 in Chiapas. In Oaxaca, the teachers staged a sit-in in the main square of the capital and took over ten state offices for ten hours as leverage for negotiation tables. In response, about 1,200 members of the Federal Police and the Gendarmerie arrived to, “according to the government version, strengthen public safety services in the state, […] however, their arrival is more a kettling of Section 22 teachers” said Process. The leader of Section 22 of the CNTE, Ruben Nunez, said that “the federal government does not have the ability to replace the thousands of teachers who have begun an indefinite strike” because in the state of Oaxaca alone they are estimated to be between 13 and 14 thousand. In Guerrero, dissident teachers also mobilized in different parts of the state. In Chilpancingo they blocked the highway del Sol and suspended work in about 240 schools.

The aim of this broad mobilization was to obtain roundtable discussions with the federal government to demand the repeal of education reform and teacher evaluation, request the reinstatement of teachers dismissed for not taking this assessment and to solve the teachers’ conflict. However, according to La Jornada, the Secretary of Public Education, Aurelio Nuño Mayer, stated that, “the government is open to dialogue as long as the discussions are aiming to enrich the educational reform and never knock it down.” He further threatened that “teachers who are leaving children without classes will receive a discount the first day of strike; the second, there will be discount, and the third the same. That’s what the law states. If eventually there is a fourth day of strike they will be discharged.” He added that he has “26,000 teachers ready to replace teachers who are on strike.”

For more information in Spanish:

Descuentos y ceses a paristas, ratifica Nuño (La Jornada, 16 de mayo 2016)

CNTE inicia paro en Michoacán, Chiapas y Oaxaca; Nuño pide a maestros no caer en trampas de líderes (Animal Político, 16 de mayo de 2016)

Con plantón indefinido, maestros de la CNTE exigen a Segob mesa de diálogo (Proceso, 16 de mayo de 2016)

Maestros de Chiapas toman radiodifusoras y televisoras para dar a conocer los objetivos de su movimiento (Proceso, 16 de mayo 2016)

Inician paro miles de maestros de la CNTE en Chiapas (Proceso, 15 de mayo 2016)

Instala SNTE plantón en centro de Tuxtla (La Jornada, 15 de mayo 2016)

La CNTE instala plantón afuera de Gobernación (La Jornada, 15 de mayo 2016)

Reclama la CNTE diálogo en SG (La Jornada, 15 de mayo 2016)

Arriban a Oaxaca mil 200 elementos federales ante protestas del magisterio (Proceso, 18 de mayo de 2016)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Oaxaca/Guerrero: Protestas del magisterio contra la reforma educativa en varios estados (25 de febrero 2016)