"The union struggle has been worth it," the LAB union said in a statement on Monday afternoon, informing that the agreement has been reached between the Haurreskolak Consortium and the Basque Government, with which this union has a majority, more than half of its members. "After eleven strikes and mobilizations in recent years, the last two in January and on the eve of the two strike days in February of this cycle of public school strikes, we have forced the Basque Government to change its position," said the LAB.

Thus, with this observation, he expressed his willingness to cancel both calls for strikes, even by the STEILAS union, even if the points agreed do not fully satisfy him. The ELA union will evaluate the agreement on Tuesday.

More employees and fewer hours

After 16 years, the Haurreskolak Consortium will have a new employment agreement by the end of 2026. The LAB union reported that the agreement has been renewed "in full" and that measures will be taken, among other things, to alleviate the workload, along with a reduction of 100 hours in the annual working day and six more days of holidays.

For the recovery of purchasing power, on the other hand, the salaries of the personnel in the area of management of children's shelters will be equated with those of the general administration, according to the LAB, along with the renewal of the social and training funds. In addition, employee permits and licenses will also increase to the level of educators in the Department of Education.

The number of jobs will increase: 64 more. "We have managed to make this number of temporary contracts structural," according to the LAB: "The agreement includes limiting the provisional rate to 5% and negotiating and agreeing on the next model of opposition."

ABOUT STEILAS: "Not enough content"

"The opportunity has been lost", says STEILAS, because the agreed contents do not satisfy the demands that have led to the strike, among other things, it points out that the ratios that are criteria for the allocation of templates will be negotiated later.

"Our demand is clear: that at all times there are two educators in the classroom and that jobs are created to replace the hours of training and coordination, the last sentence has been proposed in a terminology without legal guarantees and not with the legitimacy that we demanded," says STEILAS.

The Government shall: "It was the result of the interview"

"This agreement is the result of negotiations that have been going on for a long time," said Begoña Pedrosa, the Basque Government's Minister of Education. "This is very good news because we are going to improve the service of children's shells and also the quality for the future."

Looking ahead, Pedrosa says that the government will agree with the unions on a timetable for negotiating the criteria for the allocation of staff. “We need a fair and efficient distribution of human resources.”