In France, the new Minister of National Education received the teaching unions this Monday, January 15. A highly anticipated meeting while the new mandate of Amélie Oudéa-Castera is already marred by an initial controversy.
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Barely promoted to National Education, here Amélie Oudéa-Castera is already obliged to justify the registration of her three sons in a prestigious private Parisian establishment. The minister first explained that she had made this choice because “ lots of hours not seriously replaced ” in the audience. Comments experienced as a provocation by the unions, to the point that the minister immediately made her mea culpasaying “ to regret ” having ” could have hurt some teachers “.
But the testimony of a former teacher relayed by the daily Release undermined the minister’s defense. This now retired teacher claimed that Amélie Oudéa-Castéra had changed her eldest son’s school, not because of the absence of teachers, but because she wanted to make him skip a class, which the teacher refused. the school where he had previously attended. Revelations seized by the oppositions, who denounced the “ lies » of the minister, with some calling for her resignation.
“ A public apology is needed »
It is in this very tense context that Amélie Oudéa-Castéra began her meetings this Monday with each of the unions, to discuss the priorities of her ministry. A first contact which did not dispel the uneasiness, far from it. “ For the moment, we do not have confidence in this minister. The staff are deeply damaged. There is an issue of contempt at play and a public apology is needed to continue working with her », Judged Guislaine David, general secretary of SNUIPP.
The unions were already skeptical when she was appointed last week, because in addition to National Education, the minister is also in charge of the portfolio of Sports, Youth and the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. How will she do it? to devote time to a school, questioned Sophie Vénétitay, representative of SNES-FSU. She didn’t get her answer. “ She did not respond on the question of wages and working conditions. She drowned that out. We have no timetable, no perspective. We are faced with a minister who is weakened. It’s more than a false start “, she believes.
The unions are already planning a one-day strike on February 1. But they say they are ready to receive signals of appeasement from the ministry in the meantime.