FIRST STRIKING TEACHERS ARRIVE AT ZÓCALO
This article by Laura Poy and Alexia Villaseñor originally appeared in the May 15th, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier leftist daily newspaper.
What are the CNTE’s Demands?
Immediate repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE Law; restoration of a solidarity-based, collective, and intergenerational pension system; the full recognition of retirement based on years of service (28 for women and 30 for men); the payment of pensions based on the minimum wage rather than on UMAs; the elimination of AFOREs as a privatization model (AFOREs are private companies who managed pensions as individual accounts, extremely restrictive and profitable for finance capital); and a profound restructuring of ISSSTE to restore its social character.
Mexico City. From the early hours of Thursday, hundreds of teachers from various states, affiliated with the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), arrived at the capital’s main square, where they have begun setting up tents, tarps, and even first-aid stations.
Coming from states such as Oaxaca, Guerrero, Mexico City, and the State of Mexico, among others, around 6:30 a.m., teachers were seen continuing to set up their tents at different points in the main square, as part of their day of struggle, occuring on Teachers’ Day.
Members of the political leadership of Section 22 of Oaxaca indicated that the transfer of the contingents from that state began before 11 p.m. this Wednesday, and educators from various regions of the state are expected to continue arriving throughout the day.
The same is happening with Chiapas teachers, who left from different parts of the state on the morning of May 14th, after their state assembly approved a “mass transfer” to Mexico City as part of the outbreak of a national strike demanding the repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE Law and the Peña Nieto education reform.
Since Wednesday afternoon, members of the CNTE’s National Political Directorate have coordinated their deployment of the various contingents to different locations in the Plaza de la Constitución, in order to expedite the deployment of their national protest demonstration early Thursday.
Dozens of teachers, carrying suitcases, backpacks, bags, plastic sheets, cardboard, and tarps, are advancing along the main square, in order to quickly begin setting up their tents and participate in the march that will depart from the Angel of Independence to the main square, scheduled for 9:00 a.m.
Leaders of Section 22 of Oaxaca confirmed that the installation of the protest camp is proceeding “normally,” although they warned of “some resistance” from the capital’s police to the installation of the tents.
They reported that the mobilization from Angel to the Zócalo will advance along Paseo de la Reforma, to Juárez Avenue, to return to Eje Central, to Venustiano Carranza Avenue, and enter the Zócalo through 20 de Noviembre or Pino Suárez Avenue, since the political rally is planned to be held in front of the National Palace.
NOT AGAINST A PARTY, AGAINST A MODEL
The national strike, initiated by the CNTE but joined by other public workers, is not a mobilization of workers against a political party, but against the neoliberal model that is still unfortunately in good health.
MEXICO’S WAGES AS SHARE OF GDP HIGHEST IN DECADES
It’s the highest point in four decades, but less than the mid-70s when workers wages account for 40.6% of GDP, prior to a period of catastrophic neoliberalism.
CNTE SUBMITS GOVERNMENT’S 5 POINT PLAN TO MEMBERSHIP
The document presented to the CNTE includes a declaration in which the federal government expresses its respect for their organization and methods of struggle.