Catalonia Reaches Tentative Deal to End Teacher Strikes with €400 Monthly Pay Rise by 2029
After 16 days of intense negotiations, Catalonia's education department and major teachers' unions have reached a preliminary agreement to end months of strikes, offering a cumulative monthly salary increase of nearly €400 by 2029 and over 6,000 new specialist hires.
A breakthrough in one of Catalonia's most protracted labour disputes arrived late Friday as the regional government and the majority of striking teachers' unions signed a pre-agreement. The deal, which still requires ratification by rank-and-file educators, promises to end a cycle of walkouts that have emptied classrooms and brought thousands onto the streets of Barcelona over the past three months.
The salary breakthrough
The central obstacle throughout the eight meetings held over two weeks was pay. The Department of Education, led by Minister Esther Niubó, improved its offer by adding an extra €50 to a new regional salary supplement, bringing it to €172 per month. Combined with an increase in the existing autonomous supplement of €210, the total regional rise will approach €400 monthly by 2029. When projected state-level civil service increases are factored in, primary school teachers could see a total rise of €599.50 and secondary teachers €633.58 over four years.
Significant salary, labour and educational improvements have been achieved.
Staffing and inclusion pledges
The other pillar of the agreement addresses the deterioration of working conditions in inclusive education. The government has committed to deploying 6,413 specialist positions, including educational psychologists, speech therapists, early childhood technicians, and reception classroom staff. The plan sets concrete targets such as assigning specialist technicians to all I3 (first-year infant) groups and reinforcing language acquisition support for pupils.
Union divisions emerge
Not all unions are on board. The CGT, Intersindical, and COS walked out of the final session, arguing that their core demands—including a salary guarantee clause, a reduction in primary school class sizes, and an audit of psychosocial conditions in classrooms—were ignored. CGT has already announced it will campaign for a 'no' vote during the consultation process. USTEC, the largest teachers' union, along with Professors de Secundària, CCOO, and UGT, backed the deal.
Our demands have not been met: neither the salary guarantee clause, nor the reduction of ratios in first-year primary, nor the audit to evaluate the psychosocial climate in classrooms.
The cost of peace
The financial envelope for the agreement adds approximately €670 million to the €2 billion already committed in a March pact signed solely with CCOO and UGT—a deal that had infuriated other unions and triggered the current wave of strikes. In total, 23 days of strikes have disrupted the current school year. As part of the truce, signatory unions have agreed not to raise new general demands during the agreement's validity period.
Next steps and lingering threats
The pre-agreement now faces a critical test: a vote by USTEC's membership this weekend. Should teachers reject the terms, the strikes will continue and could escalate to coincide with the Pope's upcoming visit to Barcelona. The deal also includes provisions for 5,000 secondary school professorship positions, annual competitive exams with over 5,000 places, and a cap of 3% on profiled positions in schools.
- Government signs initial €2 billion pact with CCOO and UGT, angering other unions.
- Wave of strikes begins, eventually totalling 23 days of walkouts during the school year.
- Negotiations stall after government presents a 'final' offer; union members stage an overnight sit-in at the Education Department.
- After a marathon eighth session, a pre-agreement is reached with major unions, adding €50 to the salary supplement.
- USTEC membership votes on ratification; CGT campaigns for rejection.
Meanwhile, a separate but parallel conflict in the Valencian Community remains unresolved. Three majority unions—STEPV, CCOO, and UGT—staged a sit-in at the regional Education Ministry on Friday, demanding an immediate new proposal to end an indefinite strike that began on 11 May. Valencian President Juanfran Pérez Llorca presented a 2026 budget of €33.305 billion, a 3.1% increase, which he claimed includes the salary rises and educational investments that unions have dismissed as insufficient. A new negotiating session is scheduled for Sunday at 18:00.
