The boycott by teachers against overnight school trips is no longer a threat: it’s a direct blow to the families of Lleida (Lerida) and to an economic sector that is not to blame for the labour conflict. By 1st October, 1,365 schools and colleges across Catalonia have supported the order of the USTEC, CGT and La Intersindical unions to reject activities outside the classroom that involve sleeping away. In the Lleida region, the figure exceeds 160 schools: 137 from the Plana de Lleida, 20 from the Pyrenees and Aran, and 4 from the Solsonés. The result is not just another administrative protest: summer camps closing, workers sent to ERTE (layoffs) 100%, and reserves plummeting by 70-80%. What is sold as a labor claim translates into children missing out on educational experiences and business owners going bankrupt.

The numbers of the teacher boycott in Lleida

The protest is no longer a warning. According to Segre on 1st October, 1,365 educational establishments in Catalonia have adhered to the pressure measure against school trips that include overnight stays. The rate of adherence in the Lleida region is particularly striking: 137 schools from the Plana de Lleida, 20 from the Pyrenees and Aran, and 4 from the Solsonés, totaling over 160 colleges and institutes that stop organizing activities outside the classroom that involve sleeping away.

Behind this figure are the unions USTEC, CGT, and La Intersindical, who have turned the refusal of overnight stays into their main pressure weapon. The message is clear: if the Administration does not give in to their demands on conditions and remuneration, the families and students will pay the price. What is sold as the defense of labor rights ultimately translates into the mass cancellation of excursions, camps, and complementary activities that are a regular part of the school calendar.

The scale of the boycott shows that we are not dealing with a isolated issue or a few marginal schools. It’s a coordinated action affecting hundreds of thousands of families in Catalonia and thousands in Lleida, with an impact going beyond the strictly educational sphere. For many parents, the news comes in the form of a notice from the school canceling a planned outing, with the money paid on hold and the child looking at the bag that won’t be used.

The strangled sector: closures and ERTEs to 100%

The first bill of the boycott is not paid by the Administration; it’s paid by the business fabric of summer camps and school hostels. The Association of Summer Camps and Hostels of Catalonia (Accac) has warned that the situation is already critical. Its president, Werner Estellé, has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for the sector: job losses, closure of facilities, and destruction of an educational model “that recognizes the educational value of excursions and overnight stays.”

The numbers confirm this. The educational leisure sector is reporting economic losses of up to 70-80% in the autumn-winter reservations. In the face of such a collapse, many camp owners have opted to close their doors and activate ERTEs for 100% of the staff. They cannot keep their facilities open that rely almost entirely on school groups, nor can they assume fixed costs (staff, maintenance, supplies) with occupancy reduced to the bare minimum.

The logic of the camp owner is devastating and understandable: “We can’t wait for the reservations to arrive,” summarizes Estellé. If the educational institutions do not confirm activities, there are no revenues; if there are no revenues, there are no wages; if there are no wages, the ERTE and closure are the only way out. A concrete example can be found in the Miravall summer camp in Juneda, which has already lost 60% of its reservations and, for now, does not plan to close, although it is living in a state of maximum tension. Its case is not an exception; it’s the mirror in which dozens of businesses in the Lleida districts are reflected.

These companies do not operate with generous margins. Their almost total dependence on school groups means that a blank season puts them on the brink of closure. When the faucet of reservations runs dry, the countdown to the survival of the business is measured in weeks.

A mediation that doesn’t solve: 50 euros and union silence

The failure of the Department of Education’s mediation is evident. According to Accac, the Department has made some improvements, but “it’s the unions that don’t respond to them.” The latest agreement included a payment of 50 euros per overnight stay for the teaching staff accompanying the students, a figure that aimed to unblock the conflict. It didn’t work.

This paralysis reveals weak public management. The educational administration cannot limit itself to making proposals and sitting back, waiting for the unions to deign to respond. Its obligation is to guarantee the public service, to fulfill the school calendars, and to protect families and businesses that depend on normal course operation. When a part of the conflict decides to boycott an essential activity - school trips - without assuming any political cost, those in power must act firmly, not with good intentions.

The 50 euros per overnight stay agreement also doesn’t solve the underlying problem: the summer camp sector is still without reservations, business owners are still closing, and workers are still being sent to ERTE. Mediation cannot consist of giving a partial solution to a symptom while the disease - the veto on activities - continues to spread.

The real cost for families and the territory

The damage doesn’t stop at the businesses. The families of Lleida are the main victims of this boycott. Many had planned, reserved, and even paid for activities that are now left hanging in the air. Their children are left without excursions, camps, and the possibility of learning outside the classroom, socializing with other students, and developing competencies that can’t be acquired between four walls.

Werner Estellé has said it clearly: we are risking an educational model “that recognizes the value of educational excursions and overnight stays.” It’s not just about summer; the next school year could be worse. Reservations for spring and summer are planned months in advance, and no business owner can risk keeping facilities open without guarantees. Every closed summer camp, every ERTE to 100%, and every family giving up on a school trip represents damage that doesn’t recover with a later statement of regret.

Lleida needs educational authorities to stop looking the other way. It needs commitments to be respected, activities to be guaranteed, and the protection of a business fabric that doesn’t ask for privileges but simply wants its legs not to be cut off on a whim. The city, Spain, and the Constitution cannot allow a handful of unions to decide what the children can or cannot do in school.

Time is against the families and the businesses. If order is not restored, Lleida will remember who sacrificed their economy, employment, and the education of their children at the altar of an inflexibility that has already demonstrated its capacity for destruction.