The representatives of the strike committee of non-university public education teachers, which includes the unions ANPE, CCOO, CSI-CSIF, EA-Canarias, FETE-UGT, Insucan, CESP, STEC-IC, SEPCA, CSC and UCPL, announced this Thursday that the work stoppages scheduled for May 21 and 22 are called off due to the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Administration in the coming hours that would conclude the conflict.
The unions explained that, if a satisfactory solution is not reached for both parties, the strike would restart next Wednesday, as planned based on the prior notice announced by the teachers. According to Gabriel Crespo, a member of the committee, negotiations "have been in an 'in-pass' until three days ago, when the Minister of Education sat down to talk and, although he did not provide any document, he did commit to starting the dialogue the next day".
In this sense, he emphasized that the workers did give the Administration a document on social commitment agreements for the improvement of education in the Canary Islands, as well as estimates of the salary tables that have not yet been delivered to the regional government. Thus, he specified that, while in the first of these three days "little" progress was made, yesterday "somewhat more" progress was made with the delivery, by the general director of Personnel, of an "advance of the philosophical document of the social commitment" of the regional Executive.
Negotiations continue this Friday with the Director of Personnel and the Deputy Minister of Education, and will resume tomorrow after the Canary Islands Government has "changed its attitude to get closer to the position of the unions". The union representatives indicated that they hope to reach agreements with the Administration in the coming days, as they have observed "positive progress", despite the fact that there is still no economic proposal that has been provided to the group and that is expected to be received today.
LESS TENSION
For his part, José Ramón Barroso, also from the strike committee, remarked that the "level of tension" of the first days "has decreased" and argued that they are on track to reach a preliminary agreement that is satisfactory for the Ministry and the teachers. However, if a document is not signed before next week, the committee will decide whether to resume the strike from Wednesday, May 23.
Meanwhile, Valentín Dorta emphasized the "efforts" being made by the strike committee and admitted that the Ministry "has entered into a responsible attitude by sitting down to negotiate". The union representative indicated that the framework for dialogue is already defined, so now it is a matter of developing the negotiation continuously. "We see a dialoguing attitude5 in the Administration and we would like the conflict to conclude through an understanding and with a consultation with the teachers," he said.
Although the regional government has not yet spoken with the unions in economic terms, the members of the committee announced that they have "leaks" in this regard, a proposal "that may not differ much from the sector's demand". In this regard, Barroso specified that the Administration proposes a "conceptual framework" in the negotiations that will give way, later, to a "discussion of the improvement of the remunerative situation".
ACN press
