‘This Isn’t Stopping’: A Rank-And-File Perspective on the Indefinite Strike for Public Education in Madrid

Since October 14, teachers in Madrid, Spain, have been on an indefinite strike in defense of public education. After years of deteriorating conditions and systematic rank-and-file organizing, teachers have flooded the streets of Spain’s capital in a mass mobilization that has linked the fight for public education with the recent revolt around housing.

The shared struggle for housing and public education in Spain is now heading toward a general strike on November 11 in the midst of a broader uprising spreading throughout Europe.

Carlos Pérez, a North Carolina high school social studies teacher and Labor Notes board member, spoke with María, a secondary school teacher of history and geography in Madrid and a member of Menos Lectivas (a group whose name means “Fewer Teaching Hours”), one of the leading rank-and-file forces behind the strike.

Pérez: Public school teachers in Madrid have been on an indefinite strike since October 14. What are the main issues that drove you and other teachers to call for a strike and what are your demands?

María: In the Community of Madrid, we have been dealing with cuts to public education since 2011. These have led to the deterioration of classroom conditions and the quality of education for students in the region.

A lack of resources and staff, high student-to-teacher ratios, an increase in direct teaching hours, and a failure to maintain or build necessary infrastructure have created a situation where teaching has become extremely difficult. We, as educators, are unable to adequately attend to all our students, and we have decided to take a stand against the institutional mistreatment that both we and our students are subjected to.

In my case, I’ve taught high school classes with 33 students; I had to find a classroom to accommodate my students every day for a month of heavy rain because the classrooms had leaks that kept them constantly wet; my students with special educational needs (autism or hearing and speech difficulties) were not supported by the necessary professionals because there was neither a social integration specialist nor a teacher specifically assigned to them; and of course, I work an enormous amount of unpaid and unrecognized overtime.

This is why we are demanding that the Community of Madrid reduce the number of instructional hours; lower the teacher-to-student ratios; end segregation, given that the Community of Madrid is the most segregated region in Spain in terms of education; increase salaries to bring them in line with current economic needs; and reduce bureaucracy, among other things.

Menos Lectivas, a rank-and-file formation that includes several unions, has been a driving force behind the strike. What is Menos Lectivas and what role has it played in the strike?

Menos Lectivas was founded in 2023, inspired by groups like Labor Notes in the United States, with the goal of organizing education workers from within their workplaces and returning union power to the workers themselves. Since then, we have built our movement through assemblies held at individual workplaces.

In the years leading up to the indefinite strike, we organized strikes, demonstrations, and rallies. These actions helped the movement grow and, crucially, provided us with the institutional legitimacy—both with the workers, who view us as a legitimate force for struggle because they feel part of it through our assemblies, and with other unions, the media, and ultimately the government—to decide how, when, and where we would fight for the right to education and for our own labor rights.

From the outset, we knew that an indefinite strike would be our ultimate tool for union struggle if our demands went unheeded by the Community of Madrid. Last June, it was decided in an assembly that we, the teachers, would launch an indefinite strike.

Given that these assemblies held clear legitimacy, the other unions that were not part of Menos Lectivas had no choice but to sit down with us on the Strike Committee to negotiate the establishment of a formal negotiating table and the terms of the strike.. This milestone is already a success; it has shifted power back into the hands of the workers, taking it out of the administrative offices.

How has the strike been received by students and their families?

Both families and students support our demands. Ultimately, they are the primary beneficiaries of the improvements we achieve. We feel very well supported by them, and they are an essential part of the struggle.

Organized students have also called for an indefinite strike, acting through various political parties and organizations such as the Sindicato de Estudiantes (Students’ Union) and the Organización Estudiantil Socialista (Socialist Student Organization). They are present at all our street actions and play a significant role in the struggle for education.

Families, meanwhile, are organizing themselves into associations, both within individual educational institutions and across neighborhoods, and are helping to support strike funds. They have also organized a demonstration of their own to show the Minister of Education that this struggle is not limited to teachers, but also involves families.

Given that the strike is indefinite, what kind of tactics have you all used to maintain collective participation and pressure?

We are constantly out in the streets—holding rallies, demonstrations, performances, and assemblies—occupying enough space to ensure that the media takes note of our demands.

It is important for the public to see and hear us, so that they become aware of the reality inside our classrooms. Once they are aware of it, they join the struggle, as I mentioned with students and their families..

This strike is taking place under the progressive government of Pedro Sanchez from the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE). How has Sánchez’s government responded to the strike?

On October 5, the Prime Minister called for general elections in Spain, meaning this strike has now become part of an electoral campaign. They had no choice but to express their support for the teachers in Madrid.

However, throughout the eight years that the PSOE has been in power in Spain, they have done nothing to improve conditions for either teaching staff or students. The government washes its hands of the matter, arguing that jurisdiction over education lies with the Autonomous Communities; yet, the Ministry of Education and the central government remain responsible for both the working conditions of staff and the education of all Spaniards.

Also, the Government Delegation—which is part of and directed by the central government, and which oversees the National Police—has offered no explanation for the brutal police crackdowns that both teachers and students have endured during the demonstrations and rallies held over the past month.

The strike in public education is taking place during a mass uprising around housing in and beyond Madrid. To what extent have these two struggles been linked?

Menos Lectivas has always maintained a close relationship with the Madrid Tenants’ Union (Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid). A year ago, a shared plan titled “No Housing, No Education” was launched in various secondary schools across the Community of Madrid. Its purpose was to ensure that families and students facing precarious housing situations or the threat of eviction would know how to respond, allowing us to address these issues not only through the union but also in our schools.

This situation reveals that social democracy, subordinated to neoliberalism, is failing to ensure that workers’ basic needs are met, which is fueling a wave of protests and strikes across Europe. Spain is no exception.. The neglect of public services, such as education and health care, combined with the mismanagement of the housing crisis in Spain, has become the Achilles' heel of what has been described as the “most progressive government in history.”

What gains have you already seen from the strike and what lessons are already emerging as the strike advances?

At the time of this interview, the Madrid regional government’s Minister of Education continues to refuse to negotiate with the strike committee. We are now more than two weeks into the strike.

Yet, we know that we have succeeded in giving strength to the workers in their fight for better working conditions. We have managed to shift the focus back to the classrooms and reveal the reality of public education, demonstrating that the Madrid regional government has no intention of supporting education. We have succeeded in organizing ourselves and we are going to win. This isn’t stopping.