Significance: The announcement, which follows the striking of a deal with a high-level ministerial delegation, ends the protest action, which the Unep began on 18 July in demand of higher salaries and more government spending in education. This was the first teachers’ strike since the Partido Panameñista (PPA)-led El Pueblo Primero (EPP) coalition government headed by President Juan Carlos Varela took office in July 2014, and the deal yielded significant concessions from the government to Unep. The end to the strike will be well received by President Varela, whose popularity has suffered in recent months as a result of transparency concerns stemming from recent scandals like the ‘Panama Papers’, the biggest leak of secret information in history.
• Under the agreement, the government agrees to pay teachers a monthly increase of US$300 from July 2017, in line with Unep’s demands. This was instead of the government’s proposal of a monthly increase of US$150 from July 2017 and the same again from July 2018. As well as including a guarantee not to take administrative or disciplinary reprisals against those who went on strike, the deal also incorporated the teachers’ call for the government to spend 6% of GDP on education (up from the government’s initial offer of 5.5%).
• That the Varela government is intending to make good the deal is indicated by the fact that on 22 July President Varela unveiled the proposed national budget for 2017, for US$21.67bn which includes the US$80m necessary to provide for the US$300 monthly teachers’ salary increases. More generally the draft budget – which has now gone to the national legislature for discussion and approval - earmarks US$330m to pay for salary increases for teachers, police officers, and health care workers.
Looking Ahead: The end to the strike is a welcome relief for President Varela, whose popularity in June was just 37% according to pollster Dichter & Neira - his lowest rating of the past 12 months. While the June survey by Dichter & Neira, released on 19 July, showed a slight improvement of 40% it also revealed that just 20% of respondents thought that public education was improving under the Varela administration, down from 27% in June 2015. Meanwhile insecurity remains the chief public concern (cited as such by 21% of respondents), ahead of the cost of living (20%) and unemployment (12%). The Dichter & Neira poll interviewed 1,200 people across the country bar the comarcas (indigenous administrative regions) and Darién jungle region.
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