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In Ecuador, teachers continue to go on hunger strike against the president's veto of an education reform that would improve teachers' salaries.
The teachers are demanding the full implementation of the Organic Law of Intercultural Education (LOEI), including equalizing teachers’ salaries at the national level. The case has already reached the Constitutional Court, which will have to decide whether the reform is constitutional or not.
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Since May 3, about 30 teachers have been carrying out a hunger strike in defense of the Organic Law of Intercultural Education and rejecting conservative president Guillermo Lasso’s decision to veto it for unconstitutionality.
A group of fourteen teachers set up a camp outside the Constitutional Court (CC) and began the strike in the capital of Quito. In comparison, another group of seventeen teachers camped out at Plaza San Francisco in Guayaquil city, joining the protest.
Specifically, the teachers demand the entry into force of the Organic Law of Intercultural Education that President Guillermo Lasso vetoed in April when he rejected the reforming texts on the sources of financing that would be more than 500 million dollars per year. Teachers say that salary equalization is necessary for quality education.
Su principal cobijo es su bandera de lucha. De la @UNENACIONAL de @MujeresEcuadorN, de @FEUEnac_Ecuador
— Patricio Sebastián Peralta R. (@patop12) May 6, 2022
Cuarto día de huelga de hambre por la equiparación salarial de maestros. pic.twitter.com/kDQ3PHZvwF
Its main shelter is its flag of struggle. From the UNENATIONAL. The fourth day of the hunger strike for teachers' salary equalization.
In this respect, the National Union of Educators' president Isabel Vargas said that "here we are and here we will stay until the Constitutional Court resolves, equates, and repairs the rights of the teachers," and added: "We strongly reject the presidential veto, as it contains allegations that were dismissed by the Constitutional Court last year.”
Several social organizations and unions have supported the hunger strike, namely the Unitary Front of Workers (FUT), the Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE), the Federation of Secondary Students of Ecuador (FESE), and Women for Change, among other social organizations and unions.
The future of the educational reform now depends on the decision of the Constitutional Court, which will meet on May 12. The teachers warn that in case of an unfavorable pronouncement by the Court, they will extend the mobilizations to the rest of the country's cities.
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