For over a week, thousands of teachers across Mexico have been on strike, with the CNTE teachers union putting forward a set of longstanding demands. At the center is the demand to repeal the 2007 ISSSTE law which privatized the pensions of public sector workers including teachers. It was passed by Mexico’s right-wing governments during the neoliberal offensive, but it was part of many anti-worker policies that have continued through the administrations of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and now his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum.
There are also demands for a 100 percent pay raise, a defense of public education, and support for the universities that train teachers. Sheinbaum’s government is claiming that these demands cannot be met due to “budgetary constraints,” but as Left Voice’s sister site La Izquierda Diario (LID) points out, these “constraints” have not impacted the millions in funding that Sheinbaum is putting towards increased militarization of the country, including the border to appease President Trump.
The privatized pension system has resulted in a rising retirement age for the teachers who work tirelessly to educate their students. These are teachers who worked through the Covid-19 pandemic and were quickly forced to return to their classrooms. Their wages have hardly gone up, while the public education system is underfunded and deteriorating.
The government’s response to the teachers’ movement has not been as repressive as those from past administrations, but as LID argues, talk of “dialogue” coming from the administration still “falls short of the highest-level negotiations the teachers’ union is demanding.” In fact, Sheinbaum cancelled a meeting she was supposed to have with the teachers. Additionally, on Friday Sheinbaum deployed a massive presence of militarized police to intimidate teachers who were rallying outside the airport.
Despite the government’s opposition to the teachers’ struggle, 20,000 teachers from across the country have mobilized in support of demands put forward by the CNTE.
The protests show that, despite the “progressive” image of Sheinbaum put forward by many in Mexico and the international Left, her administration’s priority is not to deliver for the demands of the country’s workers but rather to maintain stability in the country. This may mean offering some concessions with the economic advantages the country has received from increasing subordination to the United States, but it also means dismissing and even repressing the demands of the countries’ workers when they go against the interests of Mexican capitalists who benefit from the privatized pensions and other neoliberal policies that have harmed Mexico’s workers.
The teachers’ struggle may grow and gain support from other sectors of the country’s working class, but it is also important for workers’ and their allies around the world to support Mexico’s teachers in their fight, especially from the United States where our imperialist government continues to dominate Mexico while trying to pit American workers against our class siblings across the border. Instead, workers in the United States can build solidarity with Mexican workers by supporting the teachers’ struggle, forming the international bonds that allow us to more effectively fight all attacks on workers on both sides of the border.
As Left Voice, we have been collecting messages from teachers and other education workers in the United States, expressing solidarity with the teachers’ struggle in Mexico. Those interested in sharing a message of support can send it to [email protected]
