If you noticed a reduction in traffic today, Tuesday 19 March, it might be because public schools are affected by a teachers’ strike. While the Ministry of Education does not appear to give any signals of “having its arm twisted,” the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP) insists on trying to do so by radicalizing its methods, so it has called a 48-hour strike. Today, Tuesday 19 and tomorrow Wednesday 20 March, public primary and secondary schools will be closed, the ADP announced after an Executive Committee meeting yesterday afternoon, Monday 18 March.
On Thursday, 21 March, the day they return to work, the teachers plan to hold a series of assemblies in all 32 provinces. The strike is one response by the union to the Ministry of Education’s decision to increase the teachers’ base salary, RD$8,927, by 20% without considering their demand for a bigger raise. In a press release, ADP president Eduardo Hidalgo promised that the teachers would make up the teaching hours lost by the strike, but he did not explain how this would be achieved.
He also said that the union leadership “has been reasonable, they came to the discussion table with a proposal for a 100% (raise), nevertheless, we acceded to an increase to RD$13,500 per session, which was also rejected by the educational authorities.” Hidalgo made it clear that the union’s demands include the retirees and pensioners who receive RD$5,117 and said that this is “a struggle for Dominican education, which should include administrative staff in public primary and secondary schools.”
The strike could well mean classes will not be resumed until after Easter holidays. Schools in the DR traditionally take off the entire Easter Week.