MEXICO CITY, Mexico—About 8,000 members of the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la
Educación (National Coordination of Education Workers, CNTE), marched in Mexico City June 4, beginning a strike covering several states. The union is demanding that the federal government revoke education policy changes it’s made, cancel a scheduled teacher evaluation, reinstate 586 teachers dismissed for refusing to take a performance test, and rebuild schools damaged or destroyed by the earthquake last Sept. 19. The demonstrators included members of CNTE locals from Mexico City and the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Guerrero. Protesters also planned to block roads in five states. Police stopped several streams of protesters from reaching the central district of Mexico City, including one contingent blocked by riot police on the Ignacio Zaragoza Causeway and several buses on the highway from Toluca, about 45 miles west. In Oaxaca on the night of June 3, state police prevented about 400 teachers from spending the night in the Hidalgo Market before going to Mexico City. Read more
