Strike in Madrid's Nursery Schools: Workers Demand Labor and Salary Improvements
Professionals in the 0-3 age sector begin mobilizations to demand a national regulatory framework, increased investment, and dignified conditions.
By Redacción La Voz de Madrid
••3 min read
IA
Generic image of a microphone on a podium, symbolizing a public announcement or call to action.
Workers in Madrid's nursery schools are initiating a series of mobilizations this Tuesday, April 7, 2026, to demand improved working conditions, fair wages, and a national regulatory framework to standardize criteria.
After years of demands, the sector, predominantly female (up to 97%), seeks significant changes in the management and funding of early childhood education. Demands include a national regulatory framework, increased public investment, salary improvements, and a reduction in student-to-educator ratios, aiming to enhance service quality.
The strike day, called by UGT through its Public Services division, opposes the authorities' intention to extend current contracts in publicly owned schools managed indirectly by external companies. Concurrently, CGT and the Plataforma Laboral Escuelas Infantiles (PLEI) have called for an indefinite strike under the slogan 'Let the 0-3 revolution begin,' affecting all centers in the region that provide the first cycle of this educational stage.
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"The Madrid City Council and other Administrations intend to extend current contracts, arguing that the extension is a legal prerogative of the Administration and citing economic, organizational, and pedagogical reasons. From our organization, we express our disagreement with the arguments they put forward. Although the extension is legal, we believe it is not the best option."
In addition to the strikes, PLEI has organized various mobilizations, including informational pickets, weekly concentrations in front of the Ministry of Education and the Community's Department of Family, Youth and Social Affairs, and 'performances' every Thursday in Plaza de Callao to highlight the precariousness of the sector.
The common demands of the unions and platforms focus on ensuring dignified wages, equating salary supplements to those in the second cycle of early childhood education, and recognizing the professional category of 'teaching staff'. They also demand a reduction in ratios to three babies, five children aged 1-2 years, and six aged 2-3 years per educator, as well as five non-teaching hours per week. Another key point is the establishment of a school calendar that prioritizes the real needs of children and the re-municipalization of the service to make it universal and free.
The Minister of Education, Science and Universities of the Community of Madrid, Mercedes Zarzalejo, has described the situation as a 'labor conflict' between workers and contracting companies, limiting government action to ensuring minimum services and awaiting negotiation. Meanwhile, the opposition in the Madrid Assembly, including Vox, the Socialist Party, and Más Madrid, has expressed support for the workers and criticized the regional government's management.
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"Nursery schools are another example of Ms. Ayuso's disastrous management. It's all part of a plan. We are seeing it with Healthcare, with universities... She tries to denigrate our public services to do business with private ones. There is no control or management. Only business. And unfortunately, we will continue to see it until the people of Madrid remove her in 2027."
The minimum services agreement for the UGT call establishes the presence of the director and one educator for every 12 children under one year old, 18 children under two years old, and 24 older students. However, for the indefinite strike called by CGT and PLEI, no agreement has yet been reached, as stated in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid (BOCM).
