Members of Section 22 have escalated their protests as the electoral day of June 2nd approaches.
In the third week of the strike and due to insufficient responses to their list of demands, teachers from Section 22 of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) decided to radicalize their actions and intensified tasks towards the electoral boycott, taking over the headquarters of the National Electoral Institute (INE), the Federal Electoral Registry (RFE), and the electoral district councils.
They also seized strategic facilities, such as the Oaxaca-Mexico highway, where they maintain control of toll booths and charge tolls to motorists and transporters.
They also took over the main supply plant of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) in the central valley, preventing the supply of fuel to gas stations, closed the Oaxaca Puerto Escondido highway, and the main access to the Xoxocotlán International Airport in the city of Oaxaca, where they prevent the entry of passenger vehicles to the terminal.
With the takeover of the INE and RFE district councils, the teachers are trying to prevent the departure of electoral packages and have caused the suspension of council sessions, in addition, they are limiting the possibility for voters to carry out procedures for changes or reports of voter credentials.
In the case of the Pemex plant in the Central Valley, about 300 gas stations from 25 municipalities have not been able to stock up on fuel. It is estimated that there will be product until 6:00 p.m., hoping that at that time, the blockades carried out by the teachers can be removed.
In their protests, the teachers also cordoned off and closed the accesses to the office of the Tax Administration Service (SAT) and the Gastronomic Castro in the historic center of Oaxaca.
CNTE Aims for Electoral Boycott
Section 22 of the CNTE determined to advance in their sabotage actions for the electoral day of June 2nd.
Yenny Pérez, union leader, considered the responses granted by the federal and state governments to their claims as minimal and insufficient. Therefore, they demanded President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to set up a single resolution table, where the points that are stuck in the negotiation tables can be definitively addressed.
She said that the recess and lifting of the strike and sit-in in the Historic Center, will depend on a decision of their bases and not some of their leaders.
“If our bases consider that the responses given by the government are not enough, we will maintain the protest day, with the broad support of our colleagues who determined the strategies to follow, so that the protests are more forceful and there is an immediate resolution to their demands from the government.” She mentioned that their movement is not guided by political determinations or electoral junctures, warning that, regardless of who governs, the CNTE will not stop its mobilizations.
Among the points pending resolution, on the political table is the repeal of the ISSSTE Law, the dissolution of the educational reform, the elimination of the competition for positions (so that they continue to be automatically granted to graduates of normal schools), the repeal of decree 215 to recover trust positions in the State Institute of Public Education of Oaxaca (IEEPO).
The payment of five thousand administrative incidents and the reinstatement of 170 workers who were dismissed from the IEEPO, during the regime of former governor Gabino Cue.
Also on the table is a reform to the education law to validate the PTEO in the study plans of the basic education level, where English as a subject is eliminated.
Other issues are related to the delivery of school uniforms and shoes to a million students at the basic education level, as well as maintaining the voucher scheme with suppliers determined by each school center.
Regarding the salary increase, the leader of Section 22 disapproved of the authorized increase and demanded 100 percent to be dignified, as there is an indiscriminate rise in prices.
On the legal table, she added that the cancellation of arrest warrants is pending, as well as the release of political prisoners.
Meanwhile, the director of the IEEPO, Emilio Montero Pérez, affirmed that most of the teaching demands have been addressed, highlighting that debts to retirees have been paid for more than 90 million pesos, in addition to 1.6 billion pesos for payment of administrative incidents and delivery of positions to teachers.
Source: Milenio
