At least nine non-university teachers staged a sit-in inside the Directorate-General for Human Resources at Madrid’s Education Department on 5 November, calling for negotiations with regional minister Mercedes Zarzalejo. Dozens of colleagues supported them outside the building. The indefinite strike began on 14 October and is organized around the Menos Lectivas movement. Teachers from early-years and primary education took part, alongside colleagues in secondary and vocational education. Staff in special education and guidance services joined as well.
The teachers’ demands centre on reducing classroom hours: from 19 to 17 a week in secondary education, vocational training and special-regime teaching, and from 25 to 22 in early-years and primary education. The strike committee also wants lower pupil-to-teacher ratios and more support for pupils with diverse educational needs. It is seeking a €600 monthly pay rise. Its proposals include less paperwork and improved school facilities, along with climate-control measures. The committee’s demands are proposals for negotiation, not an adopted regional policy. Magisnet reported that the campaign also seeks pay equalization and a hazard allowance for special-education teaching.
Ana Vicenti, a secondary-school teacher and spokesperson for the Menos Lectivas assembly, told EFE that the sit-in followed what she described as a lack of dialogue with Zarzalejo, Madrid’s regional minister for Education, Science and Universities. The teachers want an in-person negotiation. Vicenti said National Police officers had come to stop the mobilisation and identified several members of the strike committee. The committee members were drafting a letter requesting a meeting with the human-resources directorate. The regional government has characterized the cost of the proposals as “unacceptable,” according to Demócrata.
The sit-in followed other actions during the strike. On 3 November, teachers staged a symbolic public commission in Vallecas, outside the Madrid Assembly, with representatives from several educational stages. Three empty chairs were reserved for governing People’s Party deputies. On 4 November, dozens of teachers blocked the A-42 for about 40 minutes during the morning rush hour. Further demonstrations, including planned action at the Education Ministry, were part of the continuing mobilisation.
The dispute concerns working conditions, distinct from a regional proposal on school discipline covered in earlier reporting.
Public universities were also reported to have begun a two-day strike on 4 November over funding and resources. Staff and students from Madrid’s six public universities joined the action: the Complutense and Autonomous universities, Alcalá and Carlos III, plus Rey Juan Carlos and Polytechnic. Campaigners describe the situation as economic suffocation and cite Madrid’s public university investment at 0.4% of regional GDP, compared with a 0.75% national average. The European average is 0.92%, according to Times Higher Education. The regional government described the university stoppage as political and said universities had received historic funding.
Emma García, a spokesperson for the UCM por la pública platform, argued that private universities are expanding in Madrid and across Spain because of public underfunding. She said one in four students in Spain’s university system is already enrolled at a private institution.
