The National Coordinator of Workers in Education (CNTE) did not achieve the dialogue with President Claudia Sheinbaum that they were looking for on Thursday. The massive march, which began at four in the morning, was met with the deployment of police and the installation of a metal fence for protection at the National Palace. After several attempts to bypass the siege and gas suppression by agents, the professors continued their way towards the House of Representatives. There they plan to organize a 48-hour sit-in to protest the unfinished agreements with the federal government regarding their demands in educational and employment matters, especially the cancellation of the current pension and reform plan.
Sheinbaum confirmed from inside the National Palace, while teachers protested outside, that there is an open dialogue table in several states to address the demands. “They want to use violence to reach the National Palace, if many of their demands are met,” he explained, explaining that work is continuing on an alternative to cancel the ISSSTE reform, as there are no resources for this demand. “A care retirement fund has been established and other options are being worked on. In the case of educational reform, we have already suggested that there will be no imposition,” he noted, referring to conversations that took place with teachers about their evaluation of their educational career.
This new sit-in, which is scheduled to last until November 14, will be installed in the Federal Congress from 9:00 am. The country’s Supreme Court of Justice reported that the mobilization, which affected operations around its building, forced the plenary sessions to be moved to the alternative headquarters at 1508 Al-Thawra Street.
However, the CNTE March already warned when it declared an indefinite strike last May that it would not accept any proposal other than the repeal of the ISSSTE law. The priority in requests is to return to the solidarity pensions stipulated in the previous law, instead of privatized management through individual accounts or aphores, which eliminates the pension for life. In addition, they are demanding a return to retirement based on years of service rather than years of life and a 100% salary increase. The government negotiating team responded then, as it does now, by not having an adequate budget. The recent strike, which lasted 24 days and caused chaos in the capital, was only suspended thanks to some concessions from the administration, such as freezing and lowering the retirement age or increasing salaries by 10%.
Now the union accuses CEO Sheinbaum of failing to do his part. In the statement, the teachers stressed that “the federal government violated the agreements signed with the CNTE.” They also accuse that the dialogue tables in the states did not resolve the demands, that there is an absence of political will to address the problems in the educational field, and that there is suppression of the union through threats and harassment by the administration.
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