The island delegate of Education, Juan Cruz, described the participation of teachers in the strike called by the trade union organizations for this Friday, October 19, as "not very significant." Of the 1,603 non-university teachers in Lanzarote, 250 have gone on strike according to the Ministry, which maintains that only 15.53 percent of Lanzarote teachers have joined the union protest for the homologation of remuneration.
The participation data in the rest of the Canary Islands, according to Education, place the figure of teachers who have supported the strike at 37 percent. By islands, in Tenerife the percentage of teachers on strike was 46.48 percent, in La Palma 40.89 percent, in La Gomera 21.18 percent, in El Hierro 21.18 percent, in Gran Canaria 35.49 percent and in Fuerteventura 15.66 percent.
An investment of 280 million euros
"The unions wanted to negotiate a homologation without compensation that would place them in the same situation as the rest of the civil servants, which would mean an investment of 280 million euros, a situation that the Government has withdrawn the proposal due to lack of agreement", according to the Minister of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands, Milagros Luis Brito, who explained the reasons why the negotiations with the unions broke down last Tuesday, October 16.
Luis Brito also pointed out that "coincidentally" the two days of strike fall on Friday, emphasizing that while the unions "talk about salaries", the Canarian Government "talks about improving quality" since the offer presented by the autonomous area "has always been linked to improving the results of performance and increasing the quality of the public education system in the Canary Islands".
In this line, she pointed out that both parties are "separated by concepts and millions of euros that have to come from the Budget of the Autonomous Community, among other things from the taxes paid by Canarian parents", she indicated, highlighting that the Government of the Canary Islands "cannot assume that expense". Thus, she maintained that the regional Executive "has never had the intention of hiding the measure of linking the objectives" to this process, and reiterated that one of the basic differences between the Administration and the unions is that in this negotiation they are "separated by more than 200 million euros".
In addition, she emphasized that the lack of agreement has not been the condition of the strike, "because it was already called", and stressed that the "responsibility" lies with "who has called it and maintains it". The unions, continued the Minister, "recognized that October 16 was the last day to reach an agreement, but even so they continued to ask for the same thing in their proposal".
