"Thousands of teachers affiliated with the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) marched through Mexico City on Wednesday, demanding pension reforms, higher wages and improved working conditions. Footage shows demonstrators arriving from across the country and heading towards the capital’s central square, the Zocalo, where they set up a protest encampment with tents. Protesters are calling for the repeal of the 2007 law governing the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE), as well as changes to the 2019 education reform. They are also demanding a 100 per cent salary increase and a return to a state-managed pension system. Under the current system, pensions are managed through private retirement funds, known as AFOREs. “They put us into individual accounts, and in those individual accounts we no longer have the possibility of having a dignified pension, only with what we have saved is what we will leave with,” said Miguel Gutierrez, a CNTE leader. He warned that protests would continue if talks with President Claudia Sheinbaum are not resumed. “The World Cup is an important showcase, so that the whole world can see that one of the proposals that the president made since her campaign has not been fulfilled,” Gutierrez added. CNTE representative Citlali de Jesus Ortiz said the movement is seeking to restore what she described as a “solidarity pension system”. Alongside the march, the union has launched a nationwide strike set to continue until March 20 as part of its campaign."