National Education union organizations are calling on all teaching staff to strike on March 19.
The inter-union education organization formed by FSU, UNSA Education, SGEN-CFDT, CGT Educ’action, SUD education calls on teachers at all levels “to strike and mobilize by all means on March 19.” Salary demands are at the heart of the profession’s protests. As the press release indicates, the unions “note and condemn the absence of any prospect of general measures to increase remuneration in National Education in a context of still sustained inflation”.
On this question of salaries, teachers believe that it is “urgent to open negotiations without delay to improve careers and take general measures for salaries, in particular by revaluing the index point, in a context of collapse of the level of remuneration of public officials.
The FO union has indicated that it wishes to “shut down schools, colleges and high schools for a week would be a real way to create a balance of power in our favor” during this strike movement, as indicated France 3. The mobilizations of Tuesday March 19 could be similar to those already in force in colleges, as indicated Release. The latter specifies that since Monday March 11, “death college” operations have already taken place in several cities in France. These actions consist of asking parents to keep their children at home even though teachers are present in the establishments. On March 19, demonstrations could also take place across the country.
The mobilization of National Education also aims to protest against the government’s reforms, in particular that of the level groups proposed by Gabriel Attal when he was still Minister of Education. This reform also inspired the movement’s slogan: “No to the clash of knowledge, yes to the clash of wages!”. As relayed Actu.fr, the SUD-education union detailed the demands of the different levels of national education. For high schools, the union demands “the repeal of the reform of the general and technological high school, the return of the baccalaureate to final and anonymous tests, the repeal of Parcoursup, the opening of sufficient number of places in higher education to allow baccalaureate graduates to enroll in the course of their choice.
Same thing for colleges, SUD-education considers that it is urgent to “lower the number of students per class, recruit teaching staff, AESH, AED,…” as well as “finance options in order to expand the training offer in all colleges. As the inter-union press release specifies, the cancellation “of 700 million euros for the National Education budget is particularly alarming in view of the needs”. This decision recently announced by the government was very poorly received by the profession.