New rival teachers union established: Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Educación en México (SITEM)

The Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Educación en México (SITEM), or the new Independent  Education Workers Union in Mexico, finally received the toma de nota from the federal labor secretariat, and is thus officially registered as a new union rival to the SNTE of Elba Esther Gordillo.

For the sake of the quality of education in Mexico, which on many levels is abysmal due to the reign of Gordillo and her charro union, this is signficiant news. SITEM, according to its own figures, already has 8000 workers registered, and will in the coming weeks launch a massive campaign of affiliation to draw in more members, primarily in Guanajuato, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Quintana Roo, and Mexico City, according to the new secretary general, Juan Carlos Villanueva.

That is, though, a drop in the ocean compared to the more than 1.5 million members of Gordillo's SNTE, the largest union in Latin America. Yet it may be, as it goes, the start of something beautiful.