Catalan Teachers Strike with Road Blockades Disrupting Traffic to Andorra

Teachers and education staff across Catalonia, including from Alt Urgell and the Catalan Pyrenees, staged a strike on Thursday featuring road blockades and slow marches that disrupted traffic, especially on routes into Andorra from La Seu d'Urgell.

In La Seu d'Urgell, around 150 teachers and support staff formed slow marches through the city streets to the Castell Ciutat roundabout, blocking the N-145 from about 11:30am until roughly 1pm and causing queues back into Andorra. Protesters circled the roundabout hand-in-hand twice before reading a joint manifesto highlighting "unsustainable" conditions and demands for lower pupil-teacher ratios, reduced bureaucracy, more staff and resources for classroom diversity, salary improvements to recover 20-25% purchasing power lost since 2009, and greater democratic input in schools. Earlier that morning, they held informative pickets at local centres, hung posters urging strike participation, and shared a communal breakfast in Plaça del Camp del Codina.

Blockades hit other key routes, including the C-32 near Mataró Parc and Sant Boi de Llobregat, A-2 at Tàrrega and Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona's Ronda Litoral, Gran Via, Ronda de Dalt, and Avinguda Meridiana, main Lleida roads, C-55 near Manresa and Olesa, C-59 at Moià, C-31 in L'Hospitalet, C-58 at Sant Quirze, C-37 at Valls, N-II at Vilamalla, and AP-7 accesses south of Figueres and Girona. About 100 demonstrators in Barcelona scaled a wall to block Ronda Litoral both ways for an hour near Mar University Campus, while dozens in Mataró climbed an embankment to halt the C-32 despite police resistance; Mossos d'Esquadra contained them and cleared the road with minor tensions.

The Catalan Traffic Service noted by around 10am that no roads stayed fully blocked, but delays persisted: five kilometres on C-32 toward Barcelona at Sant Boi, similar on A-2 at Sant Joan Despí, and lighter hold-ups on Barcelona approaches. Schools and institutes opened under minimum services—one teacher per three classrooms in early years, primary, and secondary, plus management per centre and set ratios for special needs—but operated far below normal. Unions reported near-100% adherence in Osona and el Lluçanès, with around 115 centres affected by door sabotage, some verified by the Education Department; Barcelona-area sites also saw access problems. Strike follow-up in Alt Urgell was described as irregular across centres.

Unions including USTEC-STES, ASPEPC-SPS, CCOO, CGT, UGT, and Intersindical coordinated the action for public and subsidised schools. USTEC's Sònia Zapata said previous protests had gone unheard, marking the first county-wide assembly in Osona and el Lluçanès. Midday rallies occurred in Barcelona (Jardinets de Gràcia to Education Department on Via Augusta), Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, Puigcerdà, Salàs de Pallars, Tremp, and Vielha.

There, unions met Director General of Teaching Josep Maria Garcia Balda, who received their manifesto but deferred salary proposal details—tied to budget approval—to the 19 February sectoral bargaining table. USTEC's Andreu Mumbrú expressed frustration: "How much more time do they need? We're tired of being sent to another meeting without offers." Unions called minimum services abusive and warned of intensifying actions, including a full-week strike from 16-20 March or the week of 30 March, if protest rights are restricted or no progress follows prior outings on 15 November and 24 January. The Generalitat said it respects mobilisations and has a salary supplement proposal ready, though unions noted no written details yet.