The 0-3 education sector takes to the streets for a dignified agreement: "If it were a male-dominated sector, we would already have an agreement"

PalmThe CCOO, UGT, and STEI unions have announced the call for three mobilizations in Mallorca to demand that the employers' associations in the 0-3 early childhood education sector, CECEIB and FEIPIMEB, sit down to immediately negotiate an autonomous collective agreement that dignifies the working and salary conditions of the workers.

The protests will take place on April 27 in front of the CECEIB headquarters, on May 4 in front of PIMEM, and on May 11 in the Plaza de España in Palma, all at 6:00 p.m. The unions have called for citizen participation to support a sector that they consider "essential" and that, they assure, is in a situation of structural precariousness. "The 0-3 sector has had enough. It's time to dignify it," they have emphasized.

In the press conference, the secretary of Public Education of UGT, Azahar Tortonda, defended that “when there is a will to negotiate, it is proven that agreements are reached sooner”, and she cited previous agreements in the sector as an example. Nevertheless, she denounced the current lack of predisposition from employers' associations and warned that, if there are no advances, “we will continue to mobilize”.

For her part, the head of 0-3 at CCOO, Pepa Ramis, explained the origin of the conflict in detail. As she recalled, in July 2023 an agreement was signed with the employers' associations “which included improvements in the supplement and the commitment to initiate a regional agreement that would dignify the 0-3 stage”. However, she denounced that “since December, CAEB and PIMEM decided not to attend the negotiation, breaching this agreement”.

Ramis was especially critical of the current situation in the sector: “Since that moment, the employers' associations have refused to sit down to improve the conditions of 0-3”, she stated. Furthermore, she highlighted internal inequalities: “There are up to seven different salary negotiation tables doing the same job”, and she added that “we have people in Menorca with one remuneration and people in Mallorca with another”.

This fragmentation translates into significant salary differences. Currently, many workers are governed by the state agreement, with salaries around 20,000 euros gross per year. In contrast, in schools with new tenders, salaries can exceed 25,000 euros per year. “It makes no sense that there are workers doing the same job with salary differences of thousands of euros per year”, denounced Ramis, who insisted on the need “for a regional agreement to put an end to this inequality”.

The trade unionist has also described the situation as “completely precarious” and has assured that “it is probably the most precarious agreement in the educational sector, and certainly in all sectors of the Balearic Islands”. In this regard, she has remarked that it is an educational job with little capacity for professional development: “We are talking about a task that does not have hours to dedicate to families or educational projects, with 39-hour weekly working days”.

Homogenization of conditions

Another key point is the demand to extend existing salary supplements. “We want the supplement that was approved for educators in outsourced nurseries in Palma to also apply to the rest of the 0-3 workers in the Balearic Islands”, explained Ramis, emphasizing the fact that “same work cannot mean different pay”. Furthermore, he pointed to the gender component of the conflict: “It is a feminized sector; if it were masculinized, we would already have an agreement”, he stated.

The unions are demanding, among other measures, the immediate negotiation of an autonomous agreement, salaries adequate to the educational task, the reduction of precariousness, the recognition of 0-3 as an educational stage, the equalization of the school calendar, the implementation of the educational pair, and the differentiation between teaching and non-teaching hours.

Finally, from STEI, Sandra Serra reinforced the need to continue street pressure to achieve real progress in negotiations. The union organizations have warned that these mobilizations are just “the beginning” and that they will intensify if the employers do not show a real willingness to dialogue. Along the same lines, they ask the Government to act to ensure the smooth progress of the negotiations. "Conseller Vera has given 45,000 per 0-3 classroom and free education to families, but he must also improve the conditions of the workers", said Ramis. They consider that dignifying working conditions is key to guaranteeing the quality of an educational service that is fundamental to the development of children.