The educators of the nursery schools protest in front of Parliament: "We are not a bargaining chip"
The main obstacle to advancing a solution is not the lack of will but the "repeated refusal" by employers' associations, according to the 0-3 Network
PalmaAround a hundred workers from the nursery schools, called by the CCOO, UGT, and STEI unions, have started a new day of strike this Tuesday with a protest in front of the Parliament. Various gatherings have taken place in recent weeks at the doors of the autonomous Chamber, which in this Tuesday's plenary session has once again debated the labor conflict caused in the 0-3 sector.
Almost a hundred people, dressed in the usual yellow t-shirts, gathered this morning in front of the Parliament headquarters to start a new day of strike which will continue this afternoon with a demonstration through the streets of Palma. Around 09:30 they began to enter the autonomous Chamber, where they have set up a screen and dozens of chairs so they can follow the plenary session.
Prohens: "The state agreement has sold off the educators"
The President of the Government, Marga Prohens, has shown "understanding" towards the workers' demands and has said that the cause of the problem is a state agreement that "has sold off the educators". She said this after the PSIB deputy, Iago Negueruela, demanded that the Government "pressure" for changes to be negotiated in the regional agreement.
The Government, the president insisted, has "taken sides" in favour of the 0-3 stage by promoting its free provision and the reduction of ratios. However, Negueruela insisted that many professional sectors have regional agreements, because living in the Islands requires differentiated conditions. "Improving the conditions of educators can only be done with a regional agreement," he stated.
Vera reiterates the Government's willingness to sign an agreement
The Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, reiterated this Tuesday the Government's will to foster an agreement on the collective agreement for nursery schools for 0 to 3 year olds, although he insisted that the Executive is not part of the collective negotiation nor is it legitimized to draft or sign the text. Vera responded in this way to a question posed in the plenary session of the Parliament by the socialist deputy Amanda Fernández about the labor dispute affecting the early childhood education sector for 0 to 3 year olds and the negotiation of a specific autonomous agreement for the Balearic Islands.
The PSIB parliamentarian accused the Government of blocking the possibility of reaching an autonomous agreement from the outset and recalled that the minister himself had previously shown himself to be in favor of this framework for negotiation. Fernández defended the need for a specific agreement for the Balearic Islands, considering that the circumstances of the Islands are different from those of the rest of Spain, and called on the autonomous Executive to facilitate solutions for both the workers and the families.
At the same time, she reproached the Government for attributing the situation to the previous autonomous Executive and the state government, and warned that it cannot side with the employers in a conflict that affects the working conditions of educators in the first cycle of early childhood education.
Understanding principle for salary equalization
The educators' protests come a day after the employers' associations Escola Catòlica de les Balears, CECEIB and FEIPIMEB and the unions USO and FSIE –the majority in the subsidized sector– reached an initial understanding for the salary equalization of the sector's employees through a regional agreement.
They did so in a meeting from which CCOO, UGT, and STEI walked out, understanding that the conditions of the nursery school sector should be discussed in other dialogue sessions. Their proposal, which they have been advocating for almost a year, is that these improvements be articulated through an autonomous collective agreement for the workers of non-integrated subsidized children's centers.
The 0-3 Network, representing the striking educators, pointed out this morning that the main obstacle to moving forward with a solution is not a lack of willingness but the "repeated refusal" by employers to open a dedicated negotiation space for the sector.
On the other hand, the unions have pointed out, the companies insist that any negotiation must take place at a table that, according to them, "does not represent the reality of the entire 0-3 sector", because USO and FSIE "do not have the necessary representativeness to negotiate the sector's conditions".
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The 0-3 Network has also rejected "any discourse that presents the workers" from the daycare centers as "negotiating instruments or that suggests that the mobilizations are imposed."
"Educators are not bargaining chips nor is anyone dragging us into a strike. The mobilizations are the result of years of invisibility, precariousness, and lack of responses from employers and the different administrations," she maintained.
Strike monitoring
The strike by educators in Early Childhood Education centers, which is taking place this Tuesday, has registered a 30.02% participation shortly after 12:00 PM. These are the provisional data available to the Ministry of Education and Universities, which reflect particularly high participation in Menorca, where it stands at 51.01%. In descending order, they are followed by Formentera with 32.14%; Mallorca, with 28.5%; and Ibiza, with 18.06%.