The headquarters of the Insular Education Office of Lanzarote has been a hotbed of teachers and masters this Friday morning, April 20. They had called a concentration to demand the homologation of salaries in relation to the rest of the Public Administration officials.
The figures dance depending on who the sources are. Thus, while the ten unions represented in non-university education stated that "between 80% and 85% of the teachers of Lanzarote had supported the strike", the data offered by the Ministry of Education has reduced this percentage to 59.75% throughout the Canary Islands and 48.28% in the case of Lanzarote, according to the third survey carried out by the Educational Inspection with the data provided by the management teams of 100% of the educational centers until 3:00 p.m. "The differences in percentages are due to the fact that the Ministry has also counted the religion teachers, who were not called because they are labor workers", said Dolores López, from Canary Assembly Teachers (EAC).
"Homologation is the solution" and "Godoy I want my money today, for the dignification of our work. We are not second-class officials" were the banners that waved among the dozens of pennants of the ten represented unions. "These mobilizations have achieved the objective of raising awareness among teachers when making a claim that adheres to the right", commented Paco Moreno of Intersidical Canaria in relation to "an old demand of the teaching staff for the salary homologation of the positions that the rest of the public officials already receive".
At the beginning of the 90s there was already a homologation in the salaries but since 95 this has been "stagnant", which means "the loss of purchasing power of more than 150 points", according to their complaint. The requirement is "a salary increase of 400 euros per month in the specific supplement". Thus, they demand both the Canary Government and the Parliament and the different parties that compete in the elections of May 27, a satisfactory response to what they consider "a discrimination".
According to the latest data, the Minister of Education of the Canary Islands, Isaac Godoy, has already held a meeting with the strike committee, to which he reiterated the availability of the Government of the Canary Islands to dialogue. Both parties agreed to hold a new meeting that is expected to be held next week. Something that the union representatives "hope will be a beginning of understanding between both parties", commented Paco Morales.
If they do not reach an agreement with the Ministry, the teachers' unions have planned another strike next Friday, May 11. And if an agreement is not reached, from May 21 to 25 there will be new stoppages and concentrations among the teachers of the Canary Islands.
