Stalled negotiations in the Valencian Country: the chronic strike wearing down Carmen Ortí
- The continuation of the mobilizations and the breakdown of trade union unity have soured the atmosphere in the fourth week of the education strike
The trade unions' visibility strategy
Yesterday, after Sunday's tumultuous day, STEPV, CCOO and UGT took the opportunity to reorganize their strategies, plan new actions, and decide what role they would play in the segregated negotiations that the department imposed in Sunday's meeting. Today at 9:00 am, negotiations on the number of students per group are to resume, and at 1:00 pm, "Valencian," according to the department's advance. These are telematic meetings, not with the councilor and secretary, but with the directors general of each area. The three majority unions have announced they will not connect because they consider them useless, as they stated in a communiqué yesterday evening.
At the same time, after marching yesterday in columns through Valencia and Alicante, with the intention of slowing or blocking traffic, and noisily receiving President Pérez Llorca in Alicante, the unions have drawn up a new calendar of mobilizations.
Today there will be a demonstration in Valencia, departing at 11:00 am from Plaça de Sant Agustí and heading to the Education Department. In Alicante, a rally will be held at 12:00 pm at the stairs of the Jorge Juan Institute, and in Castelló, at 11:00 am, an action at the Crémor Institute. The demonstrations in Valencia and Alicante will be repeated on Thursday. Tomorrow and Friday there will be assemblies as each collective deems appropriate.
According to the unions, this proposal for permanent mobilization will serve to dose the efforts of teachers who believe that the indefinite strike must continue but cannot assume a daily succession of stoppages. At the same time, they say, all assemblies they wish to promote will have legal coverage.
The unsustainability of the situation
Each day of strike added is a significant burden for the teachers, but also for Councilor Carmen Ortí. In public, she continues to say she has the support of the entire Council and is calm because she does things right. Within her department, and also within the PP, the situation is quite different. Voices questioning whether Ortí is the best councilor to manage the crisis are multiplying. From the very first day, President Pérez Llorca decided not to get involved more than necessary. He has gone so far as to say he is not Superman and cannot solve everything. He has also joined in criticizing the unions for making political demands, but for now, he leaves the councilor to stew in her own juice.
Since the strike began, Carmen Ortí and the omnipresent Education Secretary, Daniel McEvoy, have pursued a strategy of wearing down the negotiating committee. Lengthening or shortening sessions as needed, and to all proposals saying they could not stretch the offer further. Saying that such a thing is the final offer, and even, on one occasion, getting up from the table.
The attitude towards the striking teachers who have held large rallies to support the negotiators has changed as the days have passed. It is very likely that their calculations did not include the capacity for resistance of the strikers who, day after day, have made visible their anger at the Council's education policy. Music bands, artistic actions, songs, human towers… everything is valid to show dissatisfaction.
In the first few days, the department's doors were open so that those gathered could enter the vast esplanade. From last week onward, the barriers were closed, which is quite unusual for the department, and there have been no more rallies inside the compound. According to those responsible, the officials had asked for it because the songs and slogans prevented them from concentrating on their work. Press access is now also controlled at the barrier and not inside, where the security arch was and where it was usually done.
Little by little, the treatment of the strikers has worsened until Sunday, when the police prevented those gathered from occupying the roadway. They then decided to form a human chain surrounding the entire perimeter of the department. Hours later, they sat on the ground in front of the access barriers. This was used yesterday afternoon by Councilor Ortí to say she felt intimidated and that the strikers had kidnapped them inside the compound, preventing them from leaving until dawn. It was another step in the criminalizing strategy against teachers. She also made use of the CSIF negotiators who, while the other three unions refused to leave the department until they were given a new proposal, posted several videos saying they had been held inside the department. They called for calm and assured they could not leave because they saw their physical integrity in danger. They even found terrible the cries of protest that came inside the facilities. An event that has happened every day, also when they were on the other side of the negotiating table.
The salary increase
The breakdown of union unity that the department so longed for occurred on May 25, when it offered an increase of 200 euros in the specific supplement to be paid in installments. The first, 75 euros, from September of this year. The second, another 75, in January 2027, and the third, 50 euros, in January 2028. This increase is indexed to the CPI. That was not said last Monday: the administration only wanted to index the last 50 euros to the CPI. This was even stated in the press release issued by the department. The three majority unions found this insufficient and did not sign. The councilor quickly organized a protocol signing event with ANPE and CSIF and only later said that the CPI revision affected all installments.
The three unions that did not sign accused the councilor of bad faith in negotiations, and relations with CSIF, which was a strike convener, and ANPE, which supported it, began to deteriorate. Now, following the Telegram channels of all the unions, one can see the rough language they use towards each other.
Apparently, the Education Department has become entrenched with this salary increase, which it considers immovable.
The signing of that agreement shattered the optimism with which last Monday had begun. The negotiations throughout the week hit the same stumbling blocks: reducing the number of students per group, improving staff levels, and remuneration. On Wednesday, the Education Secretary said he considered the negotiation closed. Despite this, the following days they remained at the table. Over the weekend, the unions submitted the latest proposal they had to the scrutiny of the teachers, and the majority again said no to the offer and yes to continuing the indefinite strike.
After days without contact, on Friday the unions managed to get the department to summon them for Sunday evening. Their hope was to continue making progress on each point of conflict, but the response was to segregate each point and negotiate atomized with the directors general.
