Madrid teachers block a main road to demand talks in indefinite strike

A morning road blockade

On 3 November, teachers on indefinite strike blocked a Madrid motorway during the morning rush hour. The blockade opened the fourth week of education mobilizations, according to Europa Press. Police sources cited by Europa Press said more than a hundred teachers halted traffic for about 40 minutes on the A-42 (the Toledo motorway), near the Puente de Praga on calle Antonio López. They set out from the Día y Noche monument by Atocha station, wearing their green T-shirts, and placed school chairs on the carriageway. Their banners read 'Educación Pública para todas las etapas educativas', while the group chanted at councillor Mercedes Zarzalejo to sit down, blew whistles and waved pencil-shaped balloons. Municipal Police and the National Police's UIP unit arrived, and the protesters left the road peacefully.

EL PAÍS describes a different action. Its report says about 150 teachers cut the Paseo de Antonio López at the Santa María de la Cabeza bridge at 8 am for roughly half an hour, with affected vehicles counted in the hundreds. National Police then pushed the protesters onto the pavement, while some drivers complained about the blockade. Because the location, timing and crowd figures differ between reports, the exact details of the blockade rest on competing accounts.

Demands and the sit-in at the Asamblea

The teachers want Zarzalejo to open negotiations on their demands. La Razón reports a demand for a monthly salary rise of 600 euros. LaSexta lists pay improvements, fewer teaching hours and measures against school segregation among the demands. Zarzalejo is the Community of Madrid's councillor for Education, Science and Universities, according to EL PAÍS. Separately, the Plataforma Laboral de Escuelas Infantiles asked for a meeting with her, calling a 14% budget increase insufficient, according to LaSexta. After leaving the motorway, the protesters moved in front of the Asamblea de Madrid, set up tables and sat around them as if negotiating, staging the meeting they are asking for. La Vanguardia's headline blames the Ayuso government for refusing to sit down and negotiate. The same outlet reports that protests had been suspended after a train accident in Toledo and resumed this week, with sit-ins at schools also under way. The universities begin their own strike on 4 November, and La Vanguardia reports that all six public universities of the Community of Madrid are set to join.

Calendar for the coming days

Europa Press and LaSexta call 3 November the sixteenth day of the indefinite strike, while the EL PAÍS headline places the action in the third week, so the day count depends on the outlet. The same day, a gathering was scheduled at 11:00 before the DAT Este office, followed by a march at 12:00 in Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes. On 4 November at 12:00, a joint march with the universities will run from Ferraz, the PSOE headquarters, to Génova, the PP headquarters, with a press call at 11:45 at number 70 Ferraz. On 5 November at 17:30, a joint demonstration is planned from Atocha to the education council, with media gathering at 17:15 at the head of the march, near plaza de Murillo. The timeline of key dates is shown below.

La Vanguardia reports that assemblies at some schools are designing new protest strategies.