Tensions are rising in Catalonia’s education sector: employees of educational institutions have been staging protests for several months, demanding better working conditions. The main cause is the lack of genuine dialogue with the authorities, linked to frequent leadership changes in the relevant department. Over the past year and a half, there have been three different directors of services, and none have managed to establish a constructive relationship with union representatives.
Employees in educational institutions, including kindergarten teachers, specialists working with children with special needs, social integrators, and vocational subject instructors, feel left behind compared to regular teachers. Their salaries barely exceed the minimum wage, while their workload is often heavier than that of other educators. This is felt particularly acutely by women, who make up the majority in this sector. Many are forced to seek extra support just to make ends meet.
Unions point out that the situation is made worse by the lack of stability: each new head of the education department promises change but leaves quickly, without having implemented a single initiative. As a result, discussions are reduced to a formal exchange of information, with no real decisions being made. This gives workers the impression that their problems are being deliberately ignored to avoid extra costs and changes to the system.
Demands and new protests
The education workforce has united around several key demands. These include reducing working hours for employees over 55, increasing the number of staff positions, and raising salaries by a quarter to align them with their professional category. In addition, unions are insisting on the creation of a separate corps of educational support specialists with permanent contracts, aiming to end dependence on temporary programs and external funding.
In September, workers already held a strike, and throughout the following month they organized pickets outside the education department building. The next phase of their campaign involves joining a large-scale demonstration scheduled for mid-November in Barcelona. There, they plan to reiterate their demands: higher wages, smaller class sizes, the repeal of controversial regulations, and increased investment in inclusive education.
Questions for Parliament
Alongside street protests, unions are pushing for their initiatives to be reviewed at the parliamentary level. In the coming days, lawmakers will discuss a draft resolution that calls for recognizing the special status of educational support staff, increasing their wages, and creating new permanent positions. The proposal also includes adding extra administrative roles to reduce bureaucracy in schools, giving teachers more time to work with students.
So far, the Catalonian authorities are in no hurry to meet the unions’ demands, but pressure from educators and the public continues to mount. The region’s education system is facing an increasingly critical moment, and the decisions made in the near future will affect not only the well-being of thousands of staff members, but also the quality of education for future generations.
