In the first months of each government, the teacher leader Joviel Acevedo has called for mobilizations to get the attention of the leaders and present a list of demands that, according to him, are to improve the educational system and the working conditions of teachers. From Óscar Berger to Alejandro Giammattei, most of the trade unionist’s requests have been fulfilled.
Government of Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024)
On February 12, 2020, less than a month following Alejandro Giammattei took office, he met with Acevedo, who requested a meeting to ask him if a budget expansion that was contemplated for Education The salary increase for teachers that President Jimmy Morales had approved was included. Giammattei replied yes.
In October 2021, the legal team of the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) did not want to provide details regarding the collective agreement that was being negotiated with the teachers. During a public hearing with the Congressional Finance Commission, on October 5, the team hid behind article 9, paragraph 5, of the Access to Public Information Law, so as not to detail the negotiation.
On March 2, 2022, Mineduc and the Guatemalan Education Workers Union (Steg) signed the new Collective Agreement on Working Conditions of the Ministry of Education, which included the payment of a bonus of Q2,500 in June, and a 3% salary adjustment applicable in 2023.
Government of Jimmy Morales (2016-2020)
On January 21, 2016, following completing a walk that caused traffic chaos in the city, Acevedo managed to get President Jimmy Morales to attend to him at the Presidential House, just a week following taking office. Acevedo He gave the Morales government 100 days to establish working groups and resolve 11 requests, which he delivered during that first meeting.
On August 11, 2016, teachers blocked roads and borders of the country and that was enough for Jimmy Morales to authorize the Minister of Education, Óscar Hugo López, to set up the negotiation table for the collective agreement with the Steg.
For July 14, 2017, in a meeting between President Morales, the Minister of Education, Óscar Hugo López, and the teacher leader, Joviel Acevedo, agreed on a salary increase for teachers of 11%.
Government of Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015)
On February 17, 2012, a demonstration of more than 10,000 teachers became Acevedo’s first show of power with President Otto Pérez Molina. “It is a correlation of forces to tell the Government that we want to negotiate,” Acevedo said on that occasion. Pérez Molina responded that he agreed to start a dialogue and asked the teachers to leave the protests during work hours.
By February 2013, Acevedo’s STEG managed to renew the Collective Agreement on Working Conditions with the Mineduc for three years, which contemplated, among other benefits, a 30% increase in the salary of all workers in that portfolio in a form staggered, from 2013 to 2015.
The approval of the Pact took place in the Patio de la Paz of the National Palace, between the Secretary General of the Steg, Joviel Acevedo, and the Minister of Education, Cynthia Del Águila. Vice President Roxana Baldetti participated in the event as an honorary witness.
Government of Álvaro Colom (2008-2012)
On January 7, 2008, without Álvaro Colom taking office yet, Acevedo pressured to prevent Ana Ordóñez de Molina from being appointed Minister of Education. Acevedo said that, instead, they got Colom to review the agreements and programs related to the Education portfolio.
Three days following taking office, on January 17, Acevedo announced mobilizations and permanent assemblies to pressure the Education authorities to reach a consensus with them on appointments in that portfolio, in addition to suppressing the National Self-Management Program for Educational Development (Pronade). ), annul the ministerial agreement that extended the teaching career to four years, review the teacher hiring process and discuss until signing the collective agreement.
By April 15, 2008, the teachers managed to get the Collective Agreement on Working Conditions signed. The lawyer of the National Assembly of Teachers was Enrique Torres, brother of Sandra Torres, Colom’s then wife.
On December 16, 2008, a resolution of the National Civil Service Board ordered the Mineduc to reinstate Joviel Acevedo, following Minister Ana Ordóñez de Molina signed her dismissal act, following the ruling of a Labor Court in April of that year. .
Government of Óscar Berger (2004-2008)
On January 16, 2004, the same day that the Minister of Education María del Carmen Aceña took office, the national teaching profession declared itself in a permanent assembly until the ministry solved the problem of contract teacher positions that were budgeted, in rejection of the budgeting of 13 thousand teachers per contract that Alfonso Portillo signed two days before leaving the Presidency.
On February 6 of the same year, the ANM called together thousands of teachers from all the departments of the country, in what they called the “first march for the dignity and unity of the teaching profession 2004.” They requested that the 13,000 budgeted places left by Portillo be granted through the competitive examination and that the Mineduc budget be increased from Q3 billion to Q6 billion.
On February 6, 2006, what was conceived as a peaceful demonstration of teachers once morest educational policies, It ended with a confrontation between the teachers and the Police and the request for Minister Aceña to resign.
According to Acevedo, at that time, they were opposed to the educational policy guidelines of 2005-2008, and also to the educational reforms and the teaching career, “not consensual.”
On March 14, 2007, thousands of teachers held a demonstration from the Obelisk to the Legislative Palace in rejection of the reforms to the National Education Law and requesting a salary increase.
The deputies committed to reject the law reform and to begin discussing the salary issue, as well as other benefits.
Government of Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004)
On August 8, 2002, the National Assembly of Teachers expressed its rejection of the professionalization program that the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) had been carrying out since June 3 of that year, and managed to have it canceled.
On January 20, 2003, teachers began various protests and demonstrations in the capital and the interior to demand a 60% salary adjustment and the expansion of educational coverage. Some days there was a seizure of the buildings of the Mineduc, the Ministry of Public Finance (Minfin) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Mintrab); as well as the closure of the La Aurora International Airport, work stoppages and mobilizations that ended on March 14, 52 days later.
They achieved an increase of Q150 in the February payment, the cancellation of sanctions and the increase in the Education budget.
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