The nursery schools announce a general strike and a "hot September"

PalmaThe school year will begin with protests in the nurseries of the Balearic Islands. The Xarxa 0-3 Illes Balears and the unions CCOO, UGT, and STEI have announced this Friday a calendar of mobilizations that will culminate in a general strike for the entire sector on October 6. The organizations denounce the blockade of the negotiation of working conditions and demand that the Government and employers' associations take steps to achieve an autonomous agreement.

The calendar will begin on September 9 with a rally in front of the Parliament, coinciding with the start of parliamentary activity. The next day, September 10, there will be simultaneous rallies on the different islands coinciding with the official start of the school year in Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza.

The protest will take on a new dimension on September 18, with a lockdown of families and workers in the centers affiliated with the Network of Friendly Children's Schools. According to the organizers, there are already more than 25 affiliated centers in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. The intention is for the participants to spend an entire evening there to demand a homogenization of working conditions and the negotiation of an agreement for the entire 0-3 sector.

A week later, on September 25, the organizations have called for a sectoral demonstration. The mobilization will be one of the main events on the protest calendar before the general strike, scheduled for October 6. On that day, in addition to the stoppage, the organizers will deliver more than 8,000 signatures to the president of the Parliament in defense of an autonomous early childhood agreement and the revision of the minimum decree.

Precariousness

The 0-3 Network and unions consider that the socio-labor conditions in the sector have worsened and denounce a constant loss of purchasing power. At the same time, they accuse employers' associations of not assuming the improvements demanded by staff and call on the Government to open a negotiation space with the unions that have representation in the collective bargaining agreement negotiation.

The main demand is to establish common labor conditions for the workers of the nursery schools on the four islands. The sector argues that a regional agreement would allow overcoming current differences and guarantee the same regulatory framework for all early childhood education professionals aged 0 to 3 years. The organizations have warned that they will maintain mobilizations until there are advances in the negotiation. The closure of September 18, the demonstration on the 25th, and the general strike in October thus place the labor conflict of the nursery schools as one of the first open fronts of the new academic year.