[GREVE DU 13 JANVIER]. According to figures from the Ministry of National Education, the participation rate in the strike movement on January 13 is on average 27.34%.
An average participation rate of 27% at school
The Ministry of National Education has just shared the participation rates in the strike movement of this Thursday, January 13, in all the academies of metropolitan France. Thus, there is an average of 27.34%. The average number of teachers who participated in this strike movement is 31.07% of which: 38.48% in the 1st degree and 23.73% in the second degree. For the SNUipp-FSU, the first primary union, this is a “historic” strike for protest against the school health protocol, amended several times and deemed “unmanageable” by the teachers’ unions. On the eve of this dark day, he felt that more than three quarters of primary school teachers would be absent and half of the schools would be closed on Thursday. “This mobilization, historic in its scope over the last twenty years, is not” a strike against the virus “but illustrates the growing fed up in schools“specified the union in a press release. Faced with this untenable situation at school, the SNUIpp-FSU warns that if it does not obtain satisfaction,” new mobilizations “can be organized” for the health security of the school and the necessary recruitment of personnel “.
And the minimum reception service?
In a January 11 press release, L’Association of Mayors of France (AMF) recalls that the minimum reception service provided for by law when more than 25% of teachers are on strike must be implemented for pupils. The AMF nevertheless warns of “the great difficulties which the municipalities are confronted with in setting it up” on January 13. She asks the National Education “for details and flexibility regarding its implementation in this exceptional context”.
“You don’t go on strike against a virus”
The union is also outraged by the words of Jean-Michel Blanquer and “the permanent lies of the Minister of Education”, who said on Tuesday on BFMTV thatwe “do not go on strike against a virus”. I know there is a lot of fatigue, a lot of nervousness, so I appeal both to the coolness, to the unity of the Nation around his school“, he added.” IThere are problems, I am the first to admit it, it is difficult but it is difficult in all the countries (…) As I express the hope that this is our last wave, it would be a shame to divide in this last straight line which is very hard, very complicated for all the actors“, added the Minister of National Education. The day before, the Prime Minister tried to reassure. Invited in the JT of France 2 this January 10, Jean Castex announced three new measures for parents and students: three self-tests are now sufficient to be tested on D0, D2 and D4 (there is therefore no longer the obligation to go through a first PCR or antigen test); only one certificate is necessary to prove that their child is negative, and finally, parents can wait until the school trip time to come and pick up their child case contact at school.
Why are teachers going on strike, what measures are expected?
But the unions are above all calling for more safety at school. This Thursday, January 13 will be a “white day” warned the Federation of Parents’ Councils (FCPE), which recommends that parents not send their children to school, in order to denounce the various health protocols imposed by the Ministry of National Education. “It is time for the school to become again a protected place and not the adjustment variable of a health policy in crisis”, denounces the FCPE in a press release dated January 10. She claims more means to protect students, such as CO2 sensors, soap, masks, as well as “massive screening campaigns, especially saliva, every week especially in kindergarten where children do not wear masks, but also in all schools with dedicated health personnel “.
This Friday, January 7, the SNUipp-FSU, the majority union in nursery and elementary schools, and the SE-Unsa for schools, colleges and high schools had already called on teachers to strike on January 13 to denounce a protocol deemed “unmanageable”. Indeed, the new measures were announced the day before the start of the school year, and three days after the start of the January 3, the health protocol was again modified to cope with the numerous closures of classes and schools. “The Minister does not take the measure of the situation and is pleased to keep the schools open at all costs“says the SNUipp-FSU. Result: parents, teachers, students and unions get lost in it, between positive cases and contact cases, repeated self-tests and class closings. If the government wants above all to keep schools open, the unions are calling for more safety at school.
“A chaos, an indescribable mess”
“The situation since the start of the school year in January has generated an indescribable mess and a strong feeling of abandonment and anger among school staff” denounces the union, which therefore calls on “school staff to go on strike on Thursday January 13, in the face of to chaos but also to contempt and lies, to obtain the conditions of a secure school under Omicron “.
► For more safety at school, the unions are calling for “the return to the protective rule ‘one positive case = closure of the class’, the isolation of intra-family contact cases and a policy of systematic weekly preventive saliva tests”. They also ask that Education staff be equipped with surgical masks and FFP2 for those who wish. “Self-tests must be provided to them and classrooms and catering rooms equipped with CO2 sensors” adds Snuipp.
According to the union, “the minister claims to keep the schools open but the government’s political choice is to ensure the reception of students, to allow parents to go to work, at the expense of the health of staff and that of children. , their families. In the field, the reality is quite different, directors and teachers can no longer properly exercise their teaching missions, “he concludes.