EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Hundreds of teachers on Wednesday took to the streets of Juarez, Mexico, to protest looming changes to pension benefits.
Members of CNTE, the national educators’ union, held three separate marches throughout the city and occupied a government building. At issue is a proposed deferral of vested pension benefits until educators reach full retirement age, which would be either 60 or 65 years old depending on pending regulations.
The teachers want to keep the right to start drawing their pensions after 28 years of service, in the case of women, and 30 years in the case of men, as per union rules.
“We don’t consider it positive for the teachers or the students to be served by educators who are 60 to 65 years old,” said demonstrator Martha Villegas Ordonez, a preschool teacher. “It is a just cause and a defense of children’s rights because the age of an educator has an impact on the education of a child.”
The teachers took over the Chihuahua state government building, known colloquially as Pueblito Mexicano, on the avenue that leads to the access road of the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry into El Paso.
Other union members dressed in red marched from the Big Red X to Juarez City Hall. Protests were being reported throughout Mexico. In Mexico City, teachers set up tents at the iconic Zocalo plaza and closed off some streets during a march, according to videos shared by local news media.
The union initially called for a nationwide three-day strike, but apparently scaled back the protest after a leader of the ruling MORENA Party told its officers the proposal would be withdrawn.
Rep. Ricardo Monreal tweeted a letter from Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez stating President Claudia Sheinbaum intended to withdraw changes to state employee benefits proposed last Feb. 7.
Three weeks ago, Sheinbaum explained the changes would require some state officials to be taxed on all their income and sought to increase revenue for public institutions and reduce debt.
(ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.)
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