The discontent is at its highest in National Education. Teachers, exasperated by the waltz of health protocols linked to Covid-19, should therefore be numerous to strike this Thursday.
All the teachers’ unions have called a strike in schools, colleges and high schools. They denounce “an indescribable mess” in the establishments because of the health crisis. According to forecasts from Snuipp-FSU, the leading union in primary education, 75% of primary school teachers may not pass through the school gate today, half of which should therefore be closed.
Exceptionally grouped unions
The union organization evokes “a historic mobilization by its magnitude over the last twenty years”. It is “not a strike against the virus but it illustrates the growing fed-up in schools”, explains the union, with reference to the words of the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, who had spoken of a “strike against the virus”.
“For many years, we have not seen such a compact and unitary set of unions, both primary and secondary, but also management”, also explains education historian Claude Lelièvre in an interview with Release. “From this point of view, this day and this call are obviously historic.”
And the tension is mounting, with a Minister of Education, once a good student of the government and today in turmoil. Faced with calls for resignation, government spokesman Gabriel Attal assured Wednesday that the executive was “very supportive” of Jean-Michel Blanquer. “Either we want to create controversy, which is quite easy given the difficulties posed by this virus, or we are looking for national unity around our school”, for his part defended the Minister of Education the same day before the Senate.
The first parents’ union supports the movement
In the meantime, the national union is rather in the street. The call to strike was indeed launched by almost all the unions (Snuipp-FSU, SE-Unsa, Snes-FSU, Snalc, CGT Educ’action, SUD Education, FO and Sgen-CFDT). And for once, this movement has received support beyond the sphere of education professionals. The FCPE, the first organization of parents of pupils, signed the call to strike and invited parents to mobilize this Thursday.
The Unaape (National Union of Autonomous Associations of Parents of Students) also calls “to support in solidarity the movement of all educational teams” and “not to send children to school Thursday”, according to its president Patrick Salaün. Even the main union of school leaders, SNPDEN-Unsa, “joins” the protest movement.