A national teachers’ strike that began June 18 has been suspended. According to Pedro Castillo, who leads the regional faction that called the strike, teachers decided to go back to work when the Ministry of Education showed its willingness to open discussion tables in the different regions.
Only 4 percent of state school teachers in the country were supporting the strike, and even this support began to fizzle out as many started going back to their schools when the government began to suspend and replace teachers who failed to report to work for more than three consecutive days.
There was no reason for the strike, according to former education minister Idel Vexler, because many of the demands made in last year’s two-month strike have been met, including promotions within a policy of meritocracy, and the ministry has at no time suspended dialogue with the different teachers’ groups.
A 48-point list was presented by the main teachers’ union, Sutep, in March this year, which includes the demand to raise the base wage to S/ 3,500 per month and by 2021 to tag the base wage to the government’s tax unit, which is adjusted annually and is currently at S/ 4,150.
Education minister Daniel Alfaro said he could not yet say his department was meeting all of the teachers’ expectations, “We have many opportunities for improvement regarding wages and wage opportunities for teachers.” He added there was no need for teachers to go on strike when asking for results or progress on their requests.
Castillo leads a faction of the national teachers’ union called the National Committee for Reorientation and Reconstruction of Sutep, or Conare, which harbors some of the more radical and hardline groups and refuses to recognize Sutep’s national executive committee, which has been led by Patria Roja for the past 30 years. Castillo’s faction is waging a power struggle to be recognized as the main faction within the union, demanding as much from the Ministry of Education last year. Last year, the Ministry of Education identified some 4000 teachers within Castillo’s group who had signed their support to create Movadef, the political arm of Shining Path.
Peruanos should remember that it was TEACHERS/PROFESSORS and their students, who formed the core of the Maoist Communist Terrorist group “Shining Path” …Sendero Luminoso, and who murdered thousands of indigenous people, as well as blowing up the apartment building that WAS at the corner of Larco and Schell in Miraflores. Movadef is just an extension of this. Peruanos seem to have VERY short memories.