State Uni Profs Call Strike

The union of university professors has called a strike at the Autonomous University of Guerrero. In Guerrero in recent years teachers and professors have been locked in disputes with politicians and administrators, leaving hundreds of thousands of kids with no school for long periods of time. In a country where ignorance spawns poverty and corruption and education is the only long-term hope for improvement, the adults have so much trouble working together that the students go without classes for weeks at a time. In this latest episode, more than 60,000 UAG students were affected. Over 5,000 members of the teachers union took over the offices of the University President (here called the “Rector”). The strike was called to resolve several grievances. The main one, naturally was salaries. A typical professor earns about the same as a head waiter. Salary reform is another issue. The union wants to stop corrupt practices and nepotism in the selection and promotion of teachers. More accurately, it believes that those are responsibilities of the union. Other issues deal with scholarships for children of union members, a just resolution of the case of a specific teacher who was demoted apparently for political reasons, payroll audits and hours of operation.