The teachers' protest camp in downtown Oaxaca City

The Sección 22 union local representing public school teachers in Oaxaca announced today that it will maintain its strike through Friday, June 3rd. The strike began on May 23rd and is part of what has become a ritual in budget negotiations with the state government.

Oaxacan teachers have used the tactic of camping out in the streets during May negotiations for nearly three decades now. While it’s effectiveness as a pressure tactic is questionable given its repeated use, it is a common ground for teachers from around the state to meet and it establishes a certain cohesion among the union’s membership.

The camp itself is massive, taking up around 20 city blocks in the state capital, including the central plaza, known as the zócalo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3shwwNJbI

This video shows the teachers’ protest camp on May 27, 2011. It was mostly filmed in the zócalo, which is a jumble of teachers’ tents, street vendors, and occasional cultural events. At the time of the filming, a student band from the Ixtlán district was giving a live concert, complete with the tradition of tossing fruit and other edibles at the audience.

Opinions about the teachers’ regular work stoppages are often polarizing. It’s become common for the local media and business groups to blame the teachers for economic losses and scapegoat them for social ills. A cursory social network search of the terms “maestros” and “Oaxaca” produces multiple results of thinly-veiled calls for the use of violence against the striking teachers.

At the same time, there seems to be little space for constructive criticisms of the union’s actions. Many activist groups appear to have a stake in defending the teachers perhaps because the union has become de-facto the largest and most influential activist organization in Oaxaca. Another reason could be that the usual criticisms tend to be so negative that rejecting them has become the knee-jerk reaction.

Parents unhappy with missed school days rarely address the issue in open meetings, although they will grumble amongst themselves. The union presents its strike actions as measures by which to “defend public education”…but Oaxaca’s public education system consistently ranks last in Mexico-wide evaluations. While the criteria used to create rankings can also be questioned, the fact that Oaxacan public school students receive far fewer classroom instruction hours than their counterparts elsewhere in Mexico is without dispute.

School days missed to “union activities” are not recuperated.

Private schools proliferate across the Oaxaca City area and they are not just for the children of the well-to-do. It’s common for working class people of certain means – market stall vendors for example – to make sacrifices so that their children can attend schools where classes predictably follow the Secretary of Education’s calendar. The frequent cancellation of classes has the effect of pulling students into private schools – ironically, as the teachers’ union carries out actions under the banner of fighting the privatization of public education.

The situation is complex and this post makes no pretense of hitting all the bases. Teaching is one of the few middle-class career options in Oaxaca – something worth consideration when taking into account the larger interests associated with maintaining unionized positions in one of Mexico’s poorest states. Teaching is also a field that has traditionally been more open to women than others. The Sección 22 teachers’ union local has a membership of 70,000, making it a significant sector of the state’s economy.

What’s long overdue is an open, earnest, critical, and constructive conversation among the principal stakeholders in Oaxacan public education: the students, parents, and classroom teachers.