The measure was intended to be a "testimonial" protest, following the failure of negotiations between the administration and teachers who are asking for economic homologation with the rest of the civil servants of the Autonomous Community without any quid pro quo linked to the achievement of objectives for the improvement of the quality of teaching. Now, in addition, they are threatening to start a "week of struggle" next Monday, in which there will be a strike on one island each day. In Lanzarote, the stoppage in education would take place next Tuesday, according to the spokesman of STEC Intersindical and member of the Strike Committee for Homologation, Francisco García, in addition to the call for a general strike in education and health for February 22.
They allege that they earn up to 400 euros less than other civil servants in the same category and that it is a debt that the administration has maintained with teachers since 1995, the year in which its application was "frozen", according to one of the spokespersons for the protest. "It is a mockery of all teachers," complained Francisco García, after the meeting held this Monday with the Deputy Minister of Education and University Gonzalo Marrero, in which, according to the trade unionist, he offered them the same pre-agreement that the teaching community rejected in a referendum last January.
For his part, Gonzalo Marrero recalls that a teacher who joins the educational system in Lanzarote earns 2,400 euros per month and a secondary school teacher in the same situation reaches 2,700 euros. "They have the highest salaries in the State in the non-capital islands," said Marrero, while teachers in Tenerife and Gran Canaria are the third highest paid in Spain.
The Deputy Minister acknowledges that they have not reached agreements even on the minimum services that educational centers will offer on February 22, the day on which the strike in education and health is called, and explains "how far apart" the positions of the Administration are, with an economic offer on the table of 80 million euros per year (13,000 million of the old pesetas) and 232 million in five years for teachers compared to the 25,000 million of the old pesetas per year requested by the unions. "I understand that they do not agree with their salaries but this is the maximum offer that the Government is going to propose," concluded Marrero.
In addition, the Ministry promises them that salary increase but linked to the achievement of objectives to improve the quality of teaching in three areas required in the famous Pisa report for education in the Canary Islands related to the improvement of the academic performance of students and the control of early school leaving, actions linked to the training and information of parents and actions linked to the training of teachers and innovation. Counterparts that teachers reject.
On the other hand, Marrero assures that the homologation with civil servants of the same labor category of other ministries is not viable according to a report of the legal services of the Ministry based on a ruling of the Constitutional Court that determines that the homologation can only be requested when the same functions are performed and not when the same category is held.
