智利港口工人将参加学生罢课（在线收听）

智利港口工人将参加学生罢课

　　SANTIAGO, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Chilean port workers and subcontractors at the state-run copper company have decided to join a nationwide student strike on June 26 calling for education reform, a student representative said Sunday.

　　The workers will join the strike launched by middle school and university students, said Diego Vela, spokesman for Chile's Confederation of University Students (Confech) and president of the Catholic University Student Federation.

　　"The National Port Workers Union decided that on June 26 we are going to mobilize and we are going to paralyze (labor) nationwide," he said.

　　"All the country's ports will come to a standstill in the search for free, public and quality education," he said.

　　Vela noted that in the lead up to the presidential elections in November, the year 2013 is more important than ever "in terms of the changes we need as a country, and which we have not attained through years of protests."

　　Meanwhile, President of the Confederation of Copper Workers Christian Cuevas confirmed that the group has joined the strike.

　　Vela's statements came after student representatives analyzed the impact of a June 13 rally and planned their next move at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso.

　　Education reform has become a major topic in debate of presidential campaigns since 2011, when intense students protests demanding affordable, quality education began. Two education ministers were forced out of office.