Teacher strikes: how to organise the school and what to tell families

October has been a month of strikes in Spanish education. Since 14 October, non-university state education in the Madrid region has been on an open-ended strike, called by the CCOO, CGT, CNT, Solidaridad Obrera, STEM and UGT unions together with several teacher platforms; on 22 October, some 3,000 teachers gathered outside the Madrid Assembly, according to the Government Delegation. In addition, CCOO and UGT, with other organisations, have called a nationwide general strike on 11 November, the first backed jointly by Spain's two largest unions since 2012. In Catalonia, several education unions are calling on staff to join it and have called a further sector strike on 26 November.

A general strike affects every sector, including state-funded private and fully private schools, nurseries and academies. For the head and the office, the question is practical: what can be done to organise the day, what cannot, and what to tell families. This article does not judge the strikes: it summarises the rules and proposes an orderly way to communicate them.

What the law says

The right to strike is recognised in article 28.2 of the Spanish Constitution and governed, in its essentials, by Royal Decree-law 17/1977. For a school acting as an employer, the key points are these:

• Nobody has to give notice. Workers do not have to say individually and in advance whether they will join the strike. The school can ask in order to plan, but answering is voluntary.
• Strikers cannot be replaced. The law bans replacing strikers with workers who were not linked to the company when the strike was called, and case law has also limited reassigning other workers to cover their duties.
• Minimum services. In strikes affecting education, the authorities usually set them by order. Some include state-funded private schools and others only state schools. In Madrid, for example, the minimum services for the open-ended strike set one teacher per 50 pupils in early years and primary and one educator per 12 babies under one year old in nurseries.
• The strike day is unpaid. The worker remains registered with Social Security under a special status and does not receive pay for that time.
• Students who attend must be looked after. The school keeps its duty of care with the staff available and respecting any minimum services.

Because the specific arrangements have nuances, it is worth reviewing them with your employment adviser before each strike.

Before: organise without pressuring

1. Read the strike call and the minimum services order, if there is one, and check whether it covers your school.
2. Ask, without demanding. A neutral message to staff asking anyone who wishes to say whether they expect to strike helps you plan. Nobody has to justify their answer.
3. Check external services. Meals, transport or cleaning depend on companies whose workers may also strike. Ask each one how it expects to operate.
4. Prepare a plan with scenarios: what happens if a small share of staff strikes and what happens if most do.
5. Tell families 24 to 48 hours in advance with what is known, and say when more information will follow.

The message to families

A good message about a strike meets three conditions: it is useful, it is neutral and it singles nobody out.

• Useful: it says what day it is, how classes, meals, transport and after-school activities are expected to run, and what to do if a family decides to keep their child at home.
• Neutral: it gives no opinion on the strike or its reasons. The school's official channel is not the place for that, in either direction.
• Singling nobody out: it never says which teachers are striking. Beyond being a data protection matter, it can be read as pressure.

An example you can adapt:

"Dear families: a general strike has been called for next Wednesday, 11 November. The school will stay open and look after every student who comes in, although some classes may not run as normal. Meals will run as usual and transport depends on the company, which will confirm its service on Tuesday; we will let you know through the app. If you decide your child will not come in, report it through the app like any other absence."

Send it through the school's official channel. In messaging groups, a message like this tends to end up surrounded by opinions and rumours the head does not control, as we explain in parent WhatsApp groups.

On the strike day and afterwards

• Student attendance. Record as usual who comes and who does not, with the reason given by the family.
• Working-time records. Strike hours are not hours worked and must be reflected in staff working-time records. We explain it in working-time records in schools.
• Payroll. The deduction for the strike day is handled by whoever runs payroll. Who went on strike is personal information that only the person who needs it for that should know.
• Affected activities. If an exam, a trip or a meeting was cancelled, give the new date as soon as possible.
• No reprisals. Exercising the right to strike cannot have negative consequences for the worker. It should not show, either in how tasks are assigned or in comments.

Conclusion

A strike tests how a school organises itself and how it communicates. Knowing the basic rules, that nobody has to give notice and that strikers cannot be replaced, preparing scenarios with external services and sending families a useful, neutral message without names gets the school through the day without extra conflict, whatever the turnout.

If you want to send families a clear notice through an official channel and have them report absences through the app, see Edena's school communication or book a demo.