Colombia national teachers union launches indefinite strike

(Photo: Julian Castro)

Schools throughout the country are closed as teachers represented by Colombia’s Federation of Educators (FECODE) walked out on indefinite strike Wednesday morning.

An estimated 334,000 teachers are participating in the strike, which will cause class cancellations for some 8,700,000 students throughout the country, Caracol Radio reported.

“When there is a strike, there is no labour normality.” FECODE President Luis Grubert told Colombia Reports adding that the strike is indefinite but that he hopes the government will react quickly.

The national teachers strike, the second in the past year, was declared as a last recourse by the union after negotiations with the government failed to produce solutions to the teachers’ longstanding demands, according to a statement released by the union. FECODE representatives had announced the Wednesday strike date Monday night, but met with government officials Tuesday to discuss a potential agreement to avoid a national school shutdown, apparently to no avail.

MORE: Colombia govt. and teachers hope to reach agreement, prevent strike

Grubert said, “There was some progress with the Government. [But] the Board (Fecode) decided that the strike continues. We are collecting recommendations and we talked with the Ministry to discuss the adjustments that must be made to the commitment document to fully meets the interests of the Board and the teachers,” Caracol Radio reported.

Behind the strike are a series of labor grievances that stretches back several years, and served as the motivation behind the most recent strike, which lasted only a couple days last summer. Most prominently, the government owes public school teachers an estimated $40 billion in unpaid wages and benefits.

MORE: Shutdown of Colombia’s schools imminent 

Grubert told Colombia Reports that government has started to address the debt issue and that the main problems educators are facing now are low wedges, poor health service and the competency evaluation of educators.

MORE: Colombia’s teachers threaten to join national strike 

A statement released by the union added that the strike is also “in response to the delays that the national government has enacted in the negotiating process since April 22.”

The Education Minister released a statement Wednesday in which he affirmed that competency evaluations are not negotiable, as they are “one of the fundamental pillars of [Colombia’s] education quality.”

However, the competency evaluation seems to represent a serious problem and teachers believe its solution that needs to be prioritized.
“It seems to us that it is an unfair scheme because promotions are dependent upon the availability of a budget, in other words, improvements will only operate to the extent of the resources,” said FECODE Executive Board member Jairo Arenas, according to the El Tiempo newspaper.
Nevertheless, FECODE President Gubert told Colombia Reports that the union is optimistic that ongoing negotiations with the government will produce results, and the strike will soon be called off.

Sources

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