Not just Mexico City…

The CNTE strike (by the dissident teacher’s union) is growing, and starting to attract SNTE (the tame, “official” teachers’ union) members as well.  In Baja California , 11000 grade school teachers have joined the strike, up to 50,000 in Chiapas, and at least 7000 joined protests the state capital of Veracruz, Xalapa.   Teachers in Puebla state — generally a more conservative, “pro-government” state — are also joining the strike.

It occurs to me that in some ways, the Peña Nieto administration brought this on themselves, when — in order to start breaking the power of the unions (already underway, with the Calderòn Administration’s takeover of the union-owned Luz y Fuerza power company in the Mexico City region) — they went after the low hanging fruit by arresting the most obvious “corrupto”, Elba Esther Gordillo, and leaving SNTE basically floundering… which gave CNTE an opening to take the lead in fighting for teachers and students.

Despite attempts to spin the strike as just complaints about testing teachers, the issues include job security, the pay packet for rural teachers and shortages of texts and training material (as well as continuing education for teachers themselves).

Xalapa, from CNN:

… And in Tuxtla Guti¿errez, Chiapas (photo by Isaín Mandujano/Proceso):