Tens of thousands of teachers across Mexico have been waging a militant campaign for decent wages, adequate pensions and better public education funding amid the ongoing World Cup.
Co-host Mexico wants to project a glossy image that hides a reality of immense social inequality. The wealthiest 1 per cent own 40 per cent of the country’s wealth, while almost 30 per cent of Mexicans live in poverty.
The social-democratic government headed by President Claudia Sheinbaum has spent at least $3 billion on infrastructure for the World Cup and allowed a glut of real estate speculation to cash in on the spike in tourism. Meanwhile, Sheinbaum has been telling teachers that “there is no money” to meet their demands.
The striking teachers, from the dissident union the CNTE, responded, “If there’s no solution, the ball won’t roll.”
Sheinbaum offered the teachers an insulting 9 per cent wage increase in May, with no changes to the pension system for public sector workers.
Sergio, a striking teacher, said: “We demand a salary increase, improved health service conditions, an increase in the education budget and the dismantling of the promotion and admission mechanisms within the system. But, above all, the central demand is the repeal of the 2007 LISTE Law, which is a reform that transformed the retirement and pension system for state employees.”
As it currently stands, teachers and other public servants receive a pension paid according to their individual contributions to huge investment funds, like Australia’s superannuation system.
This replaced a system where retired teachers received a fixed amount. The result is that Mexican teachers retire later, and with pensions below the minimum wage.
Sheinbaum pledged to repeal this system during her 2024 election campaign.
The CNTE is demanding a wage increase of 100 per cent, a “solidarity-based” and publicly-run pension system, and a reversal of the 2012 education reforms which brought in competitive exams and performance-based metrics for teachers.
Protests began in late May. Across the country, teachers set up protest camps in central squares and parks, blockaded railways and highways, and occupied offices of the State Education Secretariat. Police used batons and tear gas to disperse them. Sixteen teachers were hospitalised after police used live fire to break up a barricade in Oaxaca.
Festival for the rich
The CNTE launched an indefinite general strike in June. Around 12,000 teachers marched through Mexico City, setting up a protest camp near the Zocalo, the city’s main public square. This is where Sheinbaum was planning a free “fan festival” for the World Cup, with huge screens to broadcast the games, as ticket prices escaped the budgets of most working-class Mexicans.
For many Mexicans, the football tournament feels like they “threw a party at our house and didn’t invite us,” a phrase which has been going viral on social media. Striking teachers have toppled statues of “football giants” set up for the World Cup and warned Sheinbaum that strikes would continue into the tournament.
The World Cup is also being used by co-host Donald Trump to push his racist, imperialist agenda. A Somalian referee was denied entry to the US due to “suspected links to terrorist organisations.” The US also denied visas to several support staff from the Iranian national football team.
Trump was even able to overturn a one-game red-card suspension for an American player with a phone call to FIFA’s president. Last year, FIFA invented a “peace prize” so they could award it to Trump.
In Mexico, protester Luis Antonio Rosales Narvaez said, “We’re not against the ball game… [but] they should be investing in education… not giving the city a makeover.”
Sheinbaum responded by deploying over 100,000 police, National Guard, and soldiers across several major cities to prevent any disruption to the World Cup. Violent skirmishes between police and strikers saw one teacher lose an eye and several others seriously injured.
The striking teachers have been joined by retired judges and magistrates, who were demanding severance pay and adequate pensions. Families of missing persons have plastered the city in posters of some of the over 130,000 missing people, likely murdered by criminal gangs or corrupt police and military.
On the opening night of the World Cup, over 50,000 teachers and their allies marched toward Mexico City’s major stadium, the Estadio Azteca before clashing with the riot police. Major roads and boulevards in the capital were blocked off. The Zocalo encampment was able to hold out for an immense 19 days across June.
Teachers agreed to dismantle the protest camp after the government agreed to boost schools funding but have pledged to keep fighting. Their militancy is an example of the kind of action that will be needed to take on the Labor government here.
By Maeve Larkins
