- The president of the union, Edgar Machado, highlighted that the Minister of Education withdrew from the negotiation table to debate the salaries of teachers. Main photo: @infopublicave
The president of the Capital District Teachers’ Union, Edgar Machado, denounced on May 23 that currently the situation of educators in Venezuela continues to be precarious, since the discussion of a collective contract has not been finalized for more than two years.
“It is extremely serious, we have spent more than 790 days without a salary adjustment, more than two years discussing a collective contract,” Machado explained. The president of the union also noted that the Minister of Education, Yelitze Santaella, withdrew from the negotiating table to agree on teachers’ salaries.
“So far (the minister) has not sat down with the national organizations again. Nowadays, the teacher who retires with these benefits will not even be able to make a good living for a month, that is the serious situation of the teacher at the moment,” said the union leader.
Machado also recalled that the situation that teachers are going through in the country goes against article 91 of the Constitution, which establishes that workers have the right to a salary that allows them to live with dignity.
“Every worker has the right to a sufficient salary that allows him or her to live with dignity and cover the basic material, social and intellectual needs for himself and his family,” establishes the Magna Carta.
The precarious salaries that teachers denounce
The president of the Capital District Teachers’ Union reiterated that due to the high cost of the food basket, teachers cannot purchase the food they need in their homes because of the little they earn.
“Today we can say that the food basket is around $540 per month. Today all educators are affected by this situation,” said Machado.
Likewise, the union leader commented that there are many teachers who have been forced to dedicate themselves to other activities that generate better economic income. “We have teachers who migrated to carry out other types of activities that produce more benefits, in order to have a better status.”
Machado criticized that, in his opinion, the national government has shown no signs of wanting to solve the labor problems that persist in the teachers’ union and warned that in Venezuela there are many school campuses with deteriorated infrastructure.
“There really is no political will to resolve the situation of the ministry and that is without talking about the infrastructure of educational centers, where what the State has done is a makeover in many institutions and the rains have not yet started; When it happens we are going to have institutions with leak problems and stop counting the different problems that can arise in these educational units,” stated Machado.
Teachers’ marches on May 29
On May 20, 2024, the representative of the teachers’ union Edgar Machado invited teachers to march on May 29, the date on which Senior Citizens’ Day is commemorated.
“We continue to protest. On the 29th of this month (May) we will support retirees and pensioners. It’s Senior Citizens’ Day. We have educators, who today receive starvation pensions,” said Machado in an interview for Televen.
The union leader explained that the meeting place will be in Parque Carabobo and that the demonstration will reach the headquarters of the Ombudsman’s Office, located on Libertador Avenue in Caracas.
“I invite all retirees and pensioners this 29th to Parque Carabobo, where we are going to march to the Ombudsman’s Office on Senior Citizens’ Day. And to the educators (we tell them) that we continue in the fight,” said Machado.
The arrest of the president of the Capital District Teachers Union
On February 28, 2024, the Venezuelan Trade Union Network denounced the temporary detention of Edgar Machado, in the government offices of the Capital District, located in Plaza Bolívar, in Caracas.
“They have me kidnapped here because the government of the Capital District knows that it owes us workers two months of food bonuses,” denounced the union leader during his detention at the institution.
Machado demanded the presence of the Vice President of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, so that the payment of the food bonus for workers in the educator sector could be paid.
“This game they have with the workers is already good. We need them to stand up to us today and give us a satisfactory answer about our rights,” insisted the president of the Capital District Teachers’ Union.
On March 18, 2024, several teachers went out to protest on the main avenue of La Hoyada, in Los Teques (Miranda state) to demand improvements in their working and salary conditions.
On January 15 of this year, members of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) prevented a mobilization of teachers and retirees that was heading to the headquarters of the Ministry of Education on Mexico Avenue in Caracas.
