The six public universities in Madrid began this Wednesday the two days of strike called in the education sector, with informational pickets on different campuses to explain the stoppages and denounce the lack of funding, staff, and resources that, according to the organizers, threatens the functioning of these centers.
As detailed by Eva Aladro, professor at the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and member of the platform Universidad Complutense por la Pública, the two days will include different mobilizations, among them a march through the center of Madrid this Wednesday, a demonstration on Thursday afternoon, classes in the street, and a concentration in front of the Ministry of Education.
During one of the protests, led by a banner with the slogan “Education is not negotiated”, participants chanted slogans such as “We don't want to pay their debts with health and education” and “Neither from companies nor from rectors, the university belongs to the workers”.
Criticism of university funding
Professor Eva Aladro criticized that the budgetary increase announced last year for universities has not materialized, and denounced that funding remains at 0.39% of GDP, compared to the 1% that, as she recalled, is established by the autonomous university funding law.
As part of the call, attendees distributed flyers at the entrance of the Ciudad Universitaria Metro station and toured different faculties, where they entered several classrooms to inform about the stoppages.
Deficit, deterioration, and unrenovated facilities
Pablo González, technical staff for management, administration, and services at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), also participated in the pickets, denouncing the lack of workers and the deterioration of facilities, with “classrooms that have not been renovated for 50 to 60 years”.
González estimated the Polytechnic's deficit at 14 million euros, according to the economic report from the last fiscal year, and pointed out that other public universities, such as the Complutense and the Rey Juan Carlos, are also experiencing financial difficulties. “Our situation is unsustainable,” he affirmed, while demanding that the Minister of Education, Mercedes Zarzalejo, sit down to negotiate with university representatives.
The six universities called to join the stoppages
The six public universities in the region, the University of Alcalá, the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Complutense University of Madrid, the Carlos III University of Madrid, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and the Rey Juan Carlos University, will join the stoppages this Wednesday and Thursday in a call that denounces the lack of funding and the increase in repression on campuses.
These two days of strike come weeks after the clashes recorded last October 14 at the Complutense, where a police intervention during an informational picket in front of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences resulted in five arrests and eight injured.