The National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) on Tuesday announced a new two-day national strike – on November 13 and 14 – to demand the cancellation of the current pension plan and education reform, among other points. This strike represents the resumption of the mobilization that began on May 15, which was suspended after 24 days at the beginning of June after obtaining some concessions from the executive authority of Claudia Sheinbaum. In the statement, the teachers stressed that “the federal government violated the agreements signed with the CNTE.”
At the end of the protests, there was a slogan announcing the possibility of new mobilization: “We are not tired or a failure, we are standing still.” They spent several weeks on strike, but did not achieve their ultimate goal, which was to repeal the ISSSTE law approved by the former president. Panest Felipe Calderon in 2007, who privatized part of the pension system and gave rise to an individual savings system that abolished the lifetime pension. This is the claim they took as their primary goal. In the last strike, they obtained some concessions, such as freezing and lowering the retirement age or increasing salaries by 10%.
Interior Minister Rosa Isela, in a video collected by various media outlets, defended the government’s response to the teachers’ demands. He added: “But we reject any demonstration or threat of a political nature that would undermine the calm of the population and distort the struggle for better education.” Isela confirmed that her administration met with teachers in more than 22 working groups and that Sheinbaum spoke with their leaders more than 10 times in the past year. In his speech, he presented a list of procedures that had been agreed upon with the unions, and called for continuing the dialogue “until the rights of citizens, girls and boys to not interrupt their studies are respected.”
The teachers defend that the increase they received “did not correspond to what was announced.” Among the demands of the new strike, they also highlight the abolition of the educational reform, which is why they demand the restoration of the philosophical character of education, as well as the system of exclusion from work or recognition of educational levels, such as physical education, special education and indigenous education. They also demand an increase in the education budget: they demand an allocation of 12% of GDP compared to the 4% proposed by the 2026 spending law.
The CNTE defends that the government is “lying” regarding the agreements signed after the negotiating tables in May and June. They say that the presidential decision, contrary to what the executive authority stated, does not meet the needs of workers. Sheinbaum reiterated on several occasions during the recent strike that he supports the demands of teachers, traditional allies of the 4T movement, but budget shortfalls have prevented a reversal of the system that now relies on pension fund administrators (Afores), the private funds that manage the savings of state employees.
Isella stated that the coordinator indicated that the mobilization would include the blockade of the Federal Congress, the airport, the National Palace and the access roads to Mexico City. Something similar to what they had already done in the previous strike. The document calling for the XXII section of the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE) indicates that its members will attend in two ways, national (in which 20% of its members will participate) and state (80%). The participants in the national strike intend to besiege the National Palace at six in the morning, to demonstrate during Sheinbaum’s usual morning conference, and to march towards the union conference and sit-in, although they have not specified the location. State strike plan to seize government offices and transnational corporations.
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