Palma.A small group of demonstrators from different unions in the Balearics were waving banners outside the Consulat del Mar government buildings in Palma yesterday in protest at sweeping cuts and austerity measures imposed by the new Partido Popular government on the regional education system.
Although limited in numbers, the group including figures from the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the Workers Commission (CCOO) claimed that money spent on the education system was an investment in the future of the young people of the Balearic Islands.
The group called on everyone working in regional education to join a protest planned for today at 7pm in the Plaza España to defend the right of the population of the Balearic Islands to a quality education.
UGT's leader Lorenzo Bravo and Katiana Vicens of the CCOO said that the number of pupils was ever-increasing but the level of teaching staff was not keeping pace. The government policy is going to lead to more children dropping out of the school system early, said Bravo and Vicens, adding that the Balearics already has one of the highest incidence of pupils failing to reach first school certificate level in the country.
Union fears however, are not just confined to the regional education system. There are also concerns that incisive cuts are planned for the Welfare system after announcements that the number of public companies is to be slashed with job losses of around 800. The unions want to know just which companies are to go. Bravo claimed that it was the government which didn't want to talk to the unions rather than the other way round, and that action had to be taken to defend workers' rights.
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