Panama’s President Insists on Replacing Striking Teachers with No Retroactive Pay
Teachers are demanding reinstatement without retaliation and a review of Law 462, while the Executive Branch rules out retroactive pay, maintains replacement measures, and the Legislature sees its ability to find solutions to the teachers’ strike limited.
No end to the teachers’ strike, no full return to classes in public schools, and no retroactive pay for fired teachers. This is the situation after 79 days of strike by teachers affiliated with teachers’ unions, who oppose Law 462, which reformed the Social Security Fund (CSS). “What happens at the Ministry of Education (Meduca) is the responsibility of the Executive Branch. There are some issues being analyzed, the first being that the number of educators who have already been replaced will remain as is, and there will be no retroactive pay,” the president said during his weekly press conference.
