Dozens of teachers who are protesting in Mérida in demand of a salary increase and review of the ISSTEY Law, demonstrated on Thursday, June 6, on Avenida Itzaes and blocked the way to the Mérida airport as a measure of pressure for the authorities to respond to them.
On Wednesday, June 5, it was announced that they would take over the Secretariat of Education of the State of Yucatán (Segey) facilities, located in the García Ginerés neighborhood. The “threat” was carried out peacefully. The movement leaders asked that the facilities not be violated and that any teacher who committed acts of vandalism would be expelled from the movement.
Shortly after 9 in the morning, the Segey facilities were opened to start a dialogue with the dissatisfied teachers; however, since the Secretary of State Education, Liborio Vidal, was not present, the negotiations did not prosper.
Another group of teachers who also demanded salary improvements blocked the circulation of Avenida Itzaes and Avenida Internacional Benito Juárez in the direction from south to north.
The road effects were considerable because the blocked avenue is one of the busiest in the state capital. The Ministry of Public Security implemented traffic cuts to safeguard the integrity of teachers and avoid any incidents with drivers who already expressed annoyance about the blockades.
The teachers, they said, will demand from the next governor of the State that the new head of the Segey be chosen by the rank and file of the state’s teaching profession, in their opinion, to guarantee that whoever has the educational system in their hands is compatible and sensitive to the needs of Yucatan teachers.
After a few hours of protest, at around 4 in the afternoon, the teachers removed the blockade of the international avenue of Mérida, near the airport, because they signed a minute with a representative of the Ministry of the Interior for a negotiating table in Mexico City next Monday, June 10.
However, on Friday, June 7, and Monday, June 10, they will continue with their sit-down protest, that is, they will not attend the classrooms. They warned that if they do not reach an agreement with the Federation and the State on Monday, they will go on strike indefinitely.
Before lifting the blockade, Limberth Santoyo Arzápalo, leader of Education Support workers, explained to the complainants the demands they will request from the authorities.
The State government reported that, as it has done year after year, it will comply with the payment of the salary increase to teachers and education workers in 2024, once it receives notification from the Federal Government about the corresponding increase and the tabulators thereof. Therefore, he called on the teachers’ union to express their concerns respectfully, without resorting to violence or affecting the rights of third parties.
TYT Newsroom