“He site -to the Ministry of Education- will continue,” leaders of the Guatemalan Education Workers Union (STEG) said on Tuesday and Wednesday during press conferences in each department. However, they conditioned lifting it on the authorities being willing to negotiate, sign and approve the new collective agreement of working conditions of the teaching profession.
On April 22, the Court of First Instance of Labor Misdemeanors of the department of Guatemala processed the legal action promoted by the union that directs Joviel Acevedo, which alleges a collective conflict of an economic-social nature.
The Minister of Education, Anabella Giracca, said at the time that with the summons the negotiation of the new collective agreement was broken and the discussion was put on hold, which It was 80% complete.
During the conference, the STEG leaders denied the official’s allegations and affirmed that the dialogue process continues and that, in the meantime, the collective agreement approved in 2022 remains in force.
“If this Government does not want to negotiate it (the new pact), it will not do so and, then, the site will continue, but if they negotiate, sign it and approve it, we will remove the site,” they said.
Personnel who have been close to the meetings between Mineduc and STEG point out that it is no longer possible to resume the discussion, because from the moment the union judicialized the process, “the negotiation was over.”
The only space in which agreements could be reached again would be if a labor court summons both parties to conciliation and, eventually, to arbitration; However, there is no time for that to happen nor can it be assured that the conflict will reach those instances.
The source consulted considers that the Acevedo union’s speech seeks to convince its bases that they still have control of the negotiation, “when in reality they have nothing.”
But the STEG not only puts pressure on the Ministry of Education to maintain a share of power through the collective agreement, It also seeks that the modifications to teaching laws that are proposed in the Congress of the Republic, such as decree 1485—referring to the cataloging and dignity of teachers—have their approval first.
In Congress
Last Tuesday, the Education, Science and Technology Commission of the Legislature gave a favorable opinion to the initiative 6591which promotes that teachers hired in line 021 be transferred to line 011, to give them job stability.
This is a proposal from deputy José Chic, who has indicated that, if approved in plenary, it would reach about 40 thousand teachers that serve different educational levels, to grant them the same benefits as permanent staff.
On the other hand, if it becomes law, it would eliminate that “bargaining currency” to give or take away 021 contracts in exchange for certain support.
The leaders of the STEG expressed their rejection of the initiative and indicated that the transfers to line 011 that it promotes are “illegal”, since decree 1485 establishes that, to obtain a permanent position, teachers must go through a opposition process. Doing it as proposed in the legislative proposal is “transgressing the law,” they said.
Chic does not see any illegality in initiative 6591, since it does not contravene either the Constitution of the Republic or any other ordinary law; Rather, he assured, what he seeks is to do the more efficient processes and give guarantees to teachers to be transferred to permanent positions.
“We cannot understand the union’s position. They should be the most interested in regularizing and improving the conditions of teachers,” said the congressman, adding that, if approved, it would have a temporary nature, which expires on December 31, 2027.
Changes to Decree 1485
Within Congress there is also work on reforms to decree 1485focused on three points: article 4, which addresses cataloging types; section 28, on points for promotion between classes, and section 53, which talks about basic salaries, leveling and economic increase in proportion to the cost of living.
The Education Commission set up a technical table to discuss the modifications with different actors. There are three meetings and these They will last until the first days of June. The proposals will be analyzed and then presented in a legal reform initiative.
Although the commission sees the changes in the decree as a way to dignify the teaching profession, in the opinion of the STEG, they are also “illegal” and “illegitimate.”
“As an organized teacher, we will defend our specific laws, in this case, Decree 1485, because this National Commission, through deception and lies, makes promises that it will not be able to keep,” they indicated.
“We are going to use all possible means, national and international laws, to defend the decree (…) it is our bible in the educational aspect,” they assured.
The STEG representatives added that the deputies cannot make decisions unilaterally without consulting the majority teachers’ union, and that they have not been summoned to the technical tables.
“They accuse us of not wanting changes, but no one, individually or whimsically, can reform this Decree 1485. Some updates may be made to it, but the right one to say yes and no is only the organized teaching profession, and the STEG is the majority.”
STEG leaders