It is clear that the collective conflict in the private concerted centres of the CAV is endless; recently, the unions representing 100 per cent of the workforce have convened another eight days of strike in October and December. The reason for calling these strikes is clear: Employers Kristau Eskola and AICE-IZEA have the collective bargaining completely blocked since the signing of the last agreement in 2019 (let us not forget that there were 29 strikes for that signature).

Our main demands are the improvement of working conditions for the most precarious and feminized groups, the alleviation of workloads, the establishment of measures to maintain employment, the regulation of vocational training and the wage increase guaranteed by the CPI (11.8% since 2020). At the same time, the economic modules received by the CAPV concerted private centres have increased by 15 per cent in the Department of Education and by 13.8 per cent in the case of baccalaureate. It is not logical, however, that the Department of Education has increased its funding with public money to these centres beyond the CPI, and yet it has not guaranteed workers’ wages as the unions have repeatedly called for, and worse, that wages have been frozen since 2020. Calls for strike action are therefore fully justified. But there's also a big reason.

Continuing to increase funding without any control mechanism under the pretension of selling a free utopia for the private network has serious consequences such as the imbalance between networks, the violation of the right to education under the same conditions and greater school segregation. The political parties that support the Education Bill intend to perpetuate the dual system, which does not guarantee the fundamental rights of students. As a result of public-private equalisation, this dual system promotes, if possible, a more competitive and less regularised system than the current one. Likewise, this dual system perpetuates the labor conflict, generated voluntarily by employers and supported by the PNV.

Progress must be made with an educational system that extends the perimeter of the public school. To this end, there are two legal instruments that would be complementary: on the one hand, the planning of schools, which prioritizes public schools and reduces educational consultations, until the public school is the only one to be offered; and on the other hand, the creation of an effective and real publication framework that integrates the concerted centres and their workers.

It is clear that we are negotiating with the employers the renewal of the agreement, which is responsible for the blockade. On the contrary, it is urgent that the Department of Education adopt measures, without waiting for the law, such as the imposition of drastic control measures and the limitation of the competences of private concerted centres, since the employers are all the time in this commercialised and unregulated educational framework. The consequences are obvious: an endless labour conflict and profound social inequality.

Javi Kerexazu Gamazo and Nagore Iturrioz Lopez, Steilas.