Du mandatory telecommuting for staff and students. To achieve the objective set by the government for public establishments (reducing energy consumption by 10% over the next two years compared to 2019), the services of the University of Strasbourg (Unistra) have announced a action, Monday, September 19, reports France 3. The president, Michel Deneken, sent the main lines in an email to staff and a video to students.
Among the measures adopted, the closure of the establishment for two additional weeks in the middle of the academic year. The first week of January will be an administrative closure week. Students will thus be on four additional days off at Christmas with a resumption on Monday January 9 instead of January 2. A second week of closure will occur during the February school holidays, at their end, depending on the activities that will be done remotely.
A doubled energy bill
Faced with the explosion in the price of energy, this energy sobriety plan should now make it possible to significantly reduce consumption and the institution’s bill in view of a winter that promises to be tense. “Recent developments confirm this significant upward trend for both gas and electricity. This will inevitably have consequences on our energy bill,” says Michel Deneken. According to him, the energy bill will double and go from 10 to 20 million euros out of a total budget of nearly 600 million, specifies the regional news site.
READ ALSOEnergy transition: the bill looks steep
“During these periods when the premises are closed, few students will be present on the campuses and few courses will be given, even remotely, and the staff – except in justified exceptional cases – will carry out their activities from their homes, by teleworking. We will nevertheless be careful to keep a library open to allow students to work and prepare for their exams, ”he says, however. The university also proposes to limit in time the installation of the heating and to maintain the buildings at 19 degrees.
The unions were quick to react to this action plan. The Unitary Trade Union Federation (FSU) sees in this situation “one of the deleterious consequences of the University Liability Act (LRU) which has transferred to institutions the material and financial management of their buildings and that of the payroll of agents, without their guarantee the security of their financial resources”. Staff representatives, they want transparency on the savings made through these measures.