Teachers across Catalonia have rejected a pre-agreement between unions and the Education Department, with 65.1% of participants voting no. The consultation was organised by USTEC, CGT and Intersindical, and 60,686 teachers took part out of a census of 99,305, a turnout of 61.11%.
The result means teachers will continue with strikes until the end of the academic year. USTEC and Professors de Secundària, which had signed the pre-agreement, backed a yes vote, while CGT and Intersindical campaigned for no. The vote ran from Monday midday to Thursday midday.
In Tarragona, the rejection has led to a new concentration planned for Friday, 5 June, at 10 am in Plaça Imperial Tarraco. Carlos Alcalde, spokesperson for the teachers' assembly in Camp de Tarragona, had said earlier that a no vote would lead to further teacher concentrations. If the yes vote had won, CGT would have provided buses for protests in Barcelona.
Earlier this week, more than 500 teachers marched through Tarragona and cut traffic for several hours. The affected areas included Plaça Imperial Tarraco, Avinguda de Roma and the two Francolí bridges. In the Terres de l'Ebre, around 200 people also marched and said the pre-agreement was insufficient and did not address the educational emergency.
Teachers have also disrupted traffic on the AP-7 motorway in recent days. On 27 May, during a concentration in Torredembarra, nearly 1,000 demonstrators blocked the AP-7 for six hours, causing long delays on the motorway and on alternative routes including the N-340 and A-7.
The dispute comes five days before a papal visit to Tarragona and a month before the city hosts part of the Tour de France. For more Catalonia-wide coverage, see our news page.
Teachers had already been consulted in March after an agreement involving the Education Department, CCOO and UGT. In that vote, 42,965 teachers took part, equal to 50% of the census at the time, and 94.9% rejected the deal. The latest consultation drew a higher turnout, at 61.11%.
