Spain: FECCOO elects new General Secretary (30 January 2013)
Francisco García Suárez was elected as the new General Secretary of the CCOO’s Education Federation (FECCOO) at the closing session of its 11th Congress held in January in Madrid. José Campos, the former FECCOO General Secretary and member of EI’s Executive Board, will now become a member of the executive of the cross-sector federation, CCOO.
Over 250 delegates from federations throughout Spain took part in the EI affiliate’s Congress, based on the theme, “Investing in Education, Guaranteeing the Future”. There was also a large delegation of European and Latin American trade union leaders, as well as several EI and ETUCE officials.
Retrograde educational reform FECCOO’s new General Secretary, Francisco García, called for the creation of broad social alliances and for education to be turned into “a State policy not a party policy”.
He was also very critical of the current education reform project, the draft bill on the Organic Law for the Improvement of the Quality of Education (LOMCE), “in a system already eroded by cuts”. Similarly, he criticised the university reforms which sought to raise fees and make access to higher education more difficult.
García warned that, if applied, these reforms “would take us back to the Seventies of the last century”.
Among the many shortcomings of the draft law, he explained that it opened the door to privatisation as well as promoting a selective and segregated educational model.
He also criticised the paralysis of collective bargaining in the educations sector. “If dialogue is not initiated with the education community, the CCOO will demand the immediate withdrawal of the LOMCE”.
Education, our most valuable asset In an emotional speech, outgoing General Secretary José Campos thanked all his trade union colleagues, including EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen, “an outstanding example of commitment and work in the cause of solidarity and international trade unionism”.
He said: “We must keep up the fight. We must put an end to the dictatorship of the market and austerity measures. We must react to the triumph of money and its arrogant rule.
“We must put the brakes on these unfair, regressive policies, the result of a false austerity that is unfair, unbridled, and suicidal. And we must defend social advances and social rights” he added.
EI: solidarity
EI stands in solidarity with the Spanish teachers in their defence of education equity and wishes Campos and García well in their new posts. EI welcomes Campos’ continued participation on the EI Executive Board until EI’s next Congress in 2015.
