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News > Latin America

Thousands of Mexican Teachers Face Gov't Wrath After Strike

  • Members of the CNTE teachers' union protest the education reform in Mexico City. June 30, 2016.

    Members of the CNTE teachers' union protest the education reform in Mexico City. June 30, 2016. | Photo: EFE

Published 15 March 2018
Opinion

Teachers protesting the education reform went on strike on March 12 and are now facing reprisals.

Teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico may face income discounts and possible dismissals after a day of strike against the controversial education reform.

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Students, Teachers in Mexico City Protest Lack of Schools

Section 22 of the Education Workers National Coordinator (CNTE) called for a two-day protest against the education reform proposed and passed by the ruling Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) and President Enrique Peña Nieto, which states that every aspiring teacher should pass an entry exam that opponents say is biased.

After a protest on Sunday, about 15,000 teachers went on strike Monday and marched to Oaxaca's Public Education State Institute (EEPO). Now authorities are taking actions against them.

The Public Education Ministry (SEP) of Mexico asked the EEPO for a list of names, registration codes and workplace of those teachers who went on strike on March 12 and 13.

Teachers that didn't work during the strike day will receive a cut in their salaires while the SEP warned them that, according to the Teacher Professional Service General Law, a teacher who skips three workdays out of 30 would be dismissed.

The SEP expects local education authorities in the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas and Michoacan to report to them about teachers who miss school days due to strikes against the education reform.

To do so, each school's administration should register this and pass on the information, after which federal authorities would ask the Education Salary Fund (FONE) to cut the teacher's salaries. The affected teachers would then have 10 days to justify their absence.

Teachers have been protesting the education reform since it was proposed in 2013. Critics say the reform is not about education at all, but rather a labor reform within the education system that decreases their employment stability.

Protests against the reform often include strikes, massive marches and sit-ins as well as road blockades in the country, but especially in Oaxaca where the teacher's union has a great support from the population.

The CNTE union has about 200,000 members, 80,000 of them are in Oaxaca only.

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