Chilean Teachers Start Indefinite National Strike

On Tuesday, over 100,000 Chilean teachers will begin an indefinite national strike after receiving no response to their demands from President Gabriel Boric's administration.

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Teachers College President Carlos Diaz confirmed the strike after a meeting with Education Minister Nicolas Cataldo, who promised to deliver a new response to their requests.

The national strike was approved last week by 54 percent of the teachers' union members. Some 5,000 schools are expected to suspend their activities.

Among the demands of the College of Teachers to suspend the strike is reparation for the "historical debt" that the Chilean State has owed teachers for several years.

The teachers are also calling for better working conditions, an end to double teacher evaluation, and the payment of retirement bonuses that are in arrears. Another of the requests is to put an end to the burden of teaching work and the revision of the full school day model.

The "historical debt" refers to the wage loss experienced by teachers during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which transferred the administration of public schools to the municipalities and placed public teachers under the private work code.

Due to these decisions, some 70,000 teachers lost salary adjustments and other legal benefits that they have not received up to now.