PARIS (Reuters) – Almost a third of teachers were on strike this Thursday in France according to the Minister of National Education, a high participation rate – although significantly lower than union estimates – for this day of mobilization indited in National Education aimed at denouncing the management of the COVID-19 epidemic in schools.
In a press release published mid-day, the minister reported an average of 31.07% of strikers among primary and secondary teachers in metropolitan France, the participation rate standing at 27.34% on average for all National Education staff.
The first estimates provided a little earlier on Twitter by the Snes-FSU, the first secondary teachers’ union, refer to a “majority” strike, with “62% of strikers in colleges and high schools”.
For its part, the Snuipp-FSU, the first union of primary school teachers, the origin of the movement with a call for a strike launched last Friday, has not yet updated its forecasts for Tuesday, which anticipated 75% of strikers and half of the closed schools.
In a context of concern about the health safety of staff and students with the very rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, and growing discontent at the government communication deemed erratic, the majority of National Education unions, all categories of Combined staff, associations of high school students and even a federation of parents of pupils called for mobilization, in an undisclosed alliance.
Faced with this widespread dissatisfaction, fueled by frequently updated protocols that have forced many parents to have their children tested in overwhelmed pharmacies, the executive has joined forces in recent days to defend its strategy.
“NO STRIKE AGAINST A VIRUS”
“We want to live as normally as possible despite the virus (…) including school,” said government spokesman Gabriel Attal on Wednesday during the report of the Council of Ministers.
“Education will never be an adjustment variable for us”, he added, specifying that the closure of schools “must always remain a last resort”.
For his part, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, judged Tuesday on BFM TV that it was “a pity to have a day when we will further disrupt the system”.
“I know it’s hard, but it’s not a strike that solves the problems, you don’t strike against a virus,” he said.
These statements did not appease the trade unions, gathered this Thursday in an indite coalition, less than three months of the first round of the presidential election.
The Snuipp-FSU, the origin of the movement, was then joined by other federations of National Education, the Snes-FSU (first union of the second degree), the education branches of the CGT, FO, SUD and the UNSA, as well as the Snalc (National Union of High Schools, Colleges, Coles and Superior) and SNE (National Union of Schools).
Three high school organizations (FIDL, La Voix Lycenne and MNL) as well as a federation of parents of pupils, the FCPE, joined this call.
In a communique, these organizations underlined the “undue level” of “the exhaustion and exasperation of the whole educational community”, read the “chaotic situation” due “to the incessant changes of foot, of (s) untenable protocols and d (el) ‘absence of means “decided by the government.
“EXASPRATION”
Ms. CFDT, usually more in favor of discussion than confrontation with the government, called to join this strike movement.
“There is a very very strong exasperation in the education personnel (…) and contrary to what I have heard, (…) in particular from the minister, it is not a strike against the virus is a strike against the lack of consultation, against a form of contempt, “said secretary general Laurent Berger on Thursday on franceinfo.
“It is not an anti-Blanquer strike”, even if “I find that he has very badly managed this file,” said Laurent Berger.
At the same time, calls for a strike launched by the unions, the FCPE called a “white day” and urged parents not to send their children to school.
Beyond this unusual mobilization of an association of parents of pupils, the movement also federated – again in an exceptional way – executives of National Education, management staff and even inspectors.
The SNPDEN (National Union of National Education Management Staff, majority) thus supported the strike on Thursday, as did the SUI-FSU, a union of academic inspection staff.
Questioned numerous times by the National Assembly on Tuesday and at the Snat on Wednesday, Jean-Michel Blanquer denounced the “political ulterior motives” of the opposition members during this period of the presidential campaign.
Denouncing those who offer “always the easy solution, always demagogy, closed classes”, he assured that the government “assumed (a) to have open classes.”
(Written by Myriam Rivet, said by Bertrand Boucey and Sophie Louet)
by Myriam Rivet