A major strike movement is expected to affect kindergartens, primary schools, colleges and high schools in France this Tuesday, March 7, 2023. What we know about this day.
[Updated Mar 6, 2023 10:21 a.m.] Will the kids be spending the day at home this Tuesday, Mar 7, 2023? It is very likely that a large part of the pupils of nursery, primary, middle and high school will not have lessons tomorrow due to a probable major strike movement among teachers, mobilized against the pension reform. On the eve of the national protest, no figures on the real extent of the teachers’ strike have yet been communicated. While some may declare themselves on strike before the start of the movement, others may not make their choice known until the morning itself. The rate of closed classes will therefore only really be known on the same day, even if a “Black Tuesday” is hoped for by the unions.
With nearly 60,000 establishments in France, it is impossible to draw up a list, municipality by municipality, of the schools, colleges and high schools that will remain closed on Tuesday March 7, 2023. It depends on the mobilization of the teaching staff and their will or not. to go on strike. The fact remains that the seven main unions in the sector are calling “to strike massively on March 7” in all establishments in the country. Given the long preparation of this strike movement, the call could be heard, especially since the text on pension reform continues its legislative course without the postponement of the retirement age to 64 being changed. .
Regarding the participation in the teachers’ strike in nursery and elementary schools on March 7, Paris-Normandie indicates that the SNUIpp-FSU, majority in the first degree, should communicate its forecasts this Monday. The regional daily also specifies that there will be no overall forecasts communicated for colleges and high schools, due to the fact that, unlike their primary school colleagues, secondary school teachers do not have to declare themselves strikers 48 hours before the date of the strike.
This Sunday, the management of the establishments began to know, in detail, the absent and present staff for the day on Tuesday. Parents and students will therefore be notified this Sunday or Monday of any class closures. In addition, the websites of several town halls have published the expected local disruptions in their schools for March 7. You can therefore consult the page of your municipality to see if it has communicated its forecasts.
The AESH (Accompanying students with disabilities) are also called to strike on March 7. In a leaflet shared by the SUD education union, it is denounced that the profession of AESH is “underpaid”. On January 19, between 38.5% (ministry) and 67% (unions) of teachers had gone on strike, against between 25.92% and 50% on the 31st. The rate had continued to drop on February 7 and 16. , with 14.17% on the 7th then 7.67% on the 16th, according to the Ministry of Education. Will the end of the holidays correspond to a resurgence of mobilization?
In a press release published this Saturday, March 4, the seven main unions in the education sector called “to mobilize massively, in particular by striking on March 8, the international day of struggle for women’s rights”. In the same press release, the trade unions indicate that they support “already the schools and establishments which decide to continue the strike after March 7”. The strike movement in the schools could therefore well continue the day after the sixth day of mobilization against the pension reform.
As shared by Liberation, the higher education inter-union called for a strike on March 7. It also calls “for massive strikes to lead to the total closure of academic institutions and research organizations”.
Like the schools, the university unions want to go beyond March 7 by calling on “staff and students to mobilize en masse on March 8, the international day of struggle for women’s rights, to denounce the major social injustice of this pension reform for women”. Many organizations have already announced that they are responding to the call.
Responding to the call of the interprofessional intersyndicale to “bring France to a halt” on March 7, the seven main teacher unions (CGT éduc’action, SGEN-CFDT, FNEC-FP-FO, FSU, SNALC, SUD Education, UNSA-Education) called “to strike massively on March 7”, in a joint statement published on Saturday March 4. Since “the Macron-Borne government persists in maintaining its reform” of pensions, “the time has come to organize the blocking of the country, everywhere and at all levels”, they believe in this press release. The teachers’ unions also call “to mobilize massively, in particular by striking on March 8, the international day of struggle for women’s rights”, “to decide in a general assembly on the follow-up to be given to the mobilization, including the renewal of the strike” and “to participate in the mobilizations planned for March 9 by youth organizations”.
“Our education organizations will meet to relay and decline in our workplaces the positions adopted by the inter-professional inter-union following March 7. They already support the schools and establishments which decide to continue the strike after March 7”, specifies the press release of the seven main teachers’ unions, thus leaving the door open to a renewable strike movement from March 7. What disruptions are currently planned for kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools and high schools?
