The education unions of the Canary Islands have called for rallies on all the islands for next November 28th and have threatened a strike "for the breach of the six-year agreement" signed in 2017 by the new Government of the Canary Islands.
As they explain in a statement, all the unions of non-university public education in the Islands (ANPE Canarias, CCOO, CSIF, Teachers of the Canary Islands-INSUCAN, STEC-IC, UGT and USPS-SEPCA- have joined in a common front to demand from the deputies and members of the Government of the Canary Islands, that the Budget Law of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands for 2020 includes "the expected increase of the six-year terms for non-university teaching staff, as contemplated in the agreement signed in 2017 with the regional Executive".
And, the unions affirm that "the document sent to the Parliament of the Canary Islands does not set any increase for next year", which is why the organizations affirm that they have already begun to design a calendar of pressure measures, which includes rallies on all the islands on November 28th, the request for meetings with the President of the Government of the Canary Islands and the head of the Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports, a round of contacts with all parliamentary groups "and, if necessary, strike days".
According to the unions, the agreement between the Ministry of Education and Universities of the Government of the Canary Islands and the representative trade unions of the teaching staff on the improvement of the remuneration framework for non-university teaching staff in the scope of the Ministry of Education and Universities, signed on September 1, 2017 and published in the BOC on Friday, January 26, 2018, "includes the recognition and payment of the permanent training supplement (six-year terms) to non-university teaching staff". "Each six-year term implies an accredited training of 100 hours", they specify.
"Being aware of the economic difficulties of the moment, but also of the enormous injustice suffered by teachers in the Canary Islands as they were the only ones in the State who did not receive this supplement, this document established that the payment of the six-year terms would be gradual between 2018 and 2022, that is, that each year a percentage of each six-year term accredited by the teachers would be paid, so that in five years they would already receive the entire supplement. Thus, the document included a table with the amounts that teachers should receive for each six-year term in each of the exercises", they point out.
A "clear discrimination" and that could affect 15,000 teachers
However, they affirm that "despite the fact that this commitment is published in the BOC, the autonomous Government has decided not to include in its accounts for 2020 the agreed increase, but has limited itself to consolidating the amounts paid in 2019 for each six-year term, ignoring the increase planned for 2020 in the aforementioned agreement".
In this way, they affirm that "around 15,000 teachers from all over the Archipelago may be affected by a measure that will mean that between 30 and 130 euros are not paid each month, depending on the number of six-year terms they have accredited".
In this regard, the trade union organizations point out that "until 2018, when the agreement came into force, Canarian teachers were the only ones in the entire State who did not receive this remuneration supplement, which meant a clear discrimination for the group". "This exclusion motivated, years before, numerous mobilizations by Canarian teachers, who did not accept having worse remuneration than the rest of the teachers in the national territory", they add.
However, they affirm that "the attempt to freeze the collection of the six-year terms is not new". "The central Executive raised objections last year to the payment of the amount of the six-year terms, understanding these supplements as a salary increase contrary to the Royal Decree-Law approved by the State at the end of 2018 to adjust the growth of spending", they explain.
"The Government of the Canary Islands always defended, with the support of the unions, that these supplements did not represent an increase in salaries, since the six-year terms are only collected by teachers who accredit 100 hours of training in six years. For this reason, the draft Canarian budget law sent to Parliament has been an unpleasant surprise for all the organizations that represent teachers", point out the education unions, which warn that "Canarian teachers are used to fighting for their rights and are willing to mobilize to claim what corresponds to them and thus avoid another outrage".
