- The ELA and LAB trade unions have denounced that the Basque Government has dedicated itself to reducing the dining room service. The Department of Education has not received any information on this adjustment plan, but has reached that conclusion in analysing the employment forecasts for the next course Education has sent to the centres. Thousands of boys and girls get the scholarship from the dining room in Hego Euskal Herria, and that's the only certified meal of the day. 95% of the workforce are women (many of them part-time) who will be directly affected by the cut. The situation has made it even more apparent that a new dining model needs to be put in place.
The ELA trade union warned that "they show the intention of the Basque Government to apply a systematic cut in the hourly credits for school canteens. The Resolution of 4 June on the elaboration of school calendars, the implementation of intensive work in Secondary School and the implementation of one day a week in Primary and Child Education on the occasion of COVID-19 last week, and the general protocol sent to schools for the next school year, also demonstrates the intention of the education department to reduce the service of kitchens and dining rooms on the excuse of the necessary measures to guarantee health".
The LAB syndicate does the same reading: "The only information we have, and not from the Department of Education, is that the Department of Education has decided to suspend the school dining service and reduce the number of places by 40% in the other stages of school."
The main meal of thousands of children at stake
The situation of poverty in many households makes the school dining room the main meal of the day for many students. According to the report made in 2017 by EHIGE and Food Justice, confederation of Associations of Parents of Students, at the CAV they received a scholarship of 21.4% of the students. During the confinement both the governments of Navarre and the CAV have given families a similar contribution to the lunchroom scholarship for food. According to the information published by the Government of Navarra, there are 4,400 students who have received aid equivalent to the scholarship.
To ensure the right to food for all citizens, to improve health and to accelerate the local economy, the post-pandemic period is a good opportunity for school canteens to re-have their own kitchen (removing kitchens and an oligopoly of very few private companies is a subcontracted service since then) and serve the food they have purchased from the village baserritars.
Impact on 7,000 workers
The trade unions have also brought to the surface the situation of canteens' workers. According to ELA, "in the dining room service both workers with employment contracts of the Department of Education and subcontracted workers are working, since more than 90% of the service is privatized". About 95% of the collective are women and many have part-sessions. The temporality between the staff of the Department of Education is greater than 65%". LAB has stated that if the dining room service is suspended "more than 7,000 workers can be affected; in this sector they are women with partial contracts, most of which are subcontracted".