Teachers rally in Barcelona as unions call new strike on day of Pope visit

Thousands of teachers from across the metropolitan area gathered at Barcelona's Arc de Triomf on Friday before marching towards Ciutadella Park, as part of a Catalonia-wide teachers' strike.

This week, teachers rejected a preliminary agreement reached last week between major teaching unions and the Department of Education, with 65.1% voting against the deal.

Unions have called a new strike for Tuesday, June 9, which coincides with the first day of Pope Leo XIV's visit to Barcelona.

Catalan education minister Esther Niubó said on Friday "the negotiation phase is over" and defended the deal reached last week with the CCOO, UGT, Secondary School Teachers and USTEC unions, although the latter later withdrew its support after the result of the teachers' vote.

She called for responsibility and insisted that "the objective must be to improve the education system, not to block the Pope's visit."

Niubó defended what she described as the benefits of the agreement signed last Friday, saying it includes measures to strengthen inclusion, improve the quality of educational support, reduce bureaucracy and address class size reductions.

She added that it also provides pay improvements to recognise the work of education staff in recent years, during which they have faced social and curricular change as well as budget cuts.

Union representatives said strike action would continue, arguing that the dispute over education funding and working conditions remains unresolved.