Mexico Dissident Teachers to Meet with Political Party Leaders of Pact for Mexico

Dissident teachers encampment in the Zocalo, the central plaza of Mexico City
"When the law is unjust, the correct thing is to disobey"
Photo: Octavio Hoyos

Milenio: Lorena López and Fanny Miranda

At the request of the Secretariat of Government Relations, next week the agenda of the members of the Pact for Mexico, including political party presidents, congressional deputies and senators, will include a meeting with members of the National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers (CNTE) to find a solution to the conflict arising from the approval of the education reform.

According to the memorandum signed on May 8 by the Deputy Secretary of Government Relations, Luis Enrique Miranda, and representatives of state coordinators from eleven states, on Friday the federal government would bring to Pact members the demands of the dissident teachers, in order to set dates next week for initiating a dialogue and building consensus.

The National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers felt that it would be an act of contempt towards the teachers if the dialogue weren't with the signers of the Pact. They demanded that the meetings be with the presidents of the political parties.

"Let those who signed the Pact for Mexico, who make the propaganda for the educational reform, let them listen to the teachers," Eugenio Rodríguez, a member of Section 18 [Michoacan].

He added that if they are going to send auxiliaries of each of the parties, the dialogue will make no sense. 

"If they send technical advisers, that would be a contempt to the teaching profession. We wouldn't accept that, no. It has to be with the people who are responsible as heads of the parties, "he said.

Also, the teachers' leader urged Congress to commit itself 

"while the debate is occurring, while the education system that Mexico needs is being debated, so there isn't a reform that jumps the gun."

The dissident workers expect that Tuesday or Wednesday of next week the negotiating committee of CNTE will meet at 11:00 AM, with the Deputy Secretary of Government Relations and the Assistant Secretaries of Education Rodolfo Tuirán and Alba Martinez for follow up on the agreements reached on May 8. 

"It's in order to know if there is a rapprochement with the Congress and members of the Pact to establish a possible timetable for discussion, dialogue," said Juan Melchor, member of the national political leadership of CNTE.

...However, the agreement does not include the issue of arrest warrants against some leaders of the teachers, and according to representatives of the sections from Mexico City, Michoacán and Oaxaca, this must be a case expressly and solely discussed with the authorities of the Secretariat of Government Relations, because it is a highly political issue.

One of the issues, among others, they did agree to discuss with officials of the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), is educational evaluation and the working conditions of teachers. Spanish original