Sophie Vénétitay is sure that the president’s speech on Wednesday “will certainly fuel the very strong mobilization on Thursday” against the pension reform.
“We are far from having been convinced by the President of the Republic”admits Wednesday, March 22 on franceinfo, Sophie Vénétitay, deputy general secretary of the secondary school union Snes-FSU after Emmanuel Macron’s speech on TF1 and France 2.
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The Secretary General also states “already have quite significant striker rate returns” for the new day of national mobilization scheduled for Thursday. Sophie Vénétitay is sure that the president’s speech “will most certainly fuel the very strong mobilization on Thursday”, according to the first echoes that she had. According to her, “This Thursday, a page in the social history of this country will also be played out somewhere”.
franceinfo: Will you also be mobilized this Thursday?
Sophie Venetitay: We will be mobilized on Thursday. We already have returns of quite significant strike rates, or even closed colleges in the Limoges academy. We are far from having been convinced by the President of the Republic.
His few minutes spent on the theme of National Education showed above all that he persisted in a losing method, since he announced things which are nevertheless very widely disputed by the trade unions, in particular when he spoke of replacing day after day teachers in colleges and high schools. It so happens that we are currently in discussion with the Ministry of National Education on this subject and that during the last meeting, all the trade union organizations left, highlighting the impossibility of developing these measures. And there, when we are all gone, the president persists and signs.
“We can therefore clearly see that behind the great speeches of consultation, he seems determined to pass to impose his project in defiance of what we can wear.”
Sophie Vénétitay, Snes-FSUat franceinfo
He spoke of immense ambitions concerning you, what do you think?
He talks a lot. He has big words and big talk about school. I look at the facts. It turns out that we are preparing for the start of the 2023 school year and that in colleges and high schools we are eliminating teacher positions: 480 fewer teacher positions for the next start of the school year.
Since Emmanuel Macron came to power, he has cut nearly 8,380 teaching jobs. Facts that show that he has no real ambition for colleges and high schools. On the issue of salaries, he had promised a salary increase for all staff in January 2023 – which was to amount to 10% – and we have received nothing. Words are good, but actions are better.
Emmanuel Macron had also taken the Education sector as an argument for pension reform, saying that we had to continue to invest in education and health?
Here again, we do not see the trace, nor the concrete realization. In addition, on the issue of pension reform, teachers are very mobilized. Today, it seems impossible – as for other professions – to tell ourselves that we will work two more years. How can we imagine being in the classroom, in front of our students at 64, 65, 66 or 67? It is not social progress to move towards this situation.
“Emmanuel Macron persists and signs even though there is a majority opposition in the country. According to the first feedback we have, Emmanuel Macron’s speech will most certainly fuel the very strong mobilization on Thursday.”
Sophie Vénétitay, Snes-FSUat franceinfo
What are the teachers telling you, especially those who did not want to disrupt the baccalaureate, are they going to mobilize more on Thursday?
We know that the decision to strike during the baccalaureate surveillance was not easy to take, which is why we took a balanced position on the subject. We have many colleagues who tell us that they had reserved for the day of Thursday 23, because the cup is full. We have a president who despises what is said in the street and the trade unions, who wants to impose a project that will deteriorate our working conditions, which will hurt our careers.
And then, in National Education, the salary file is blocked. There is a deep fed up to which the president does not respond. We also have many colleagues who say they are very shocked by Emmanuel Macron’s discourse on democracy, with his desire to force through. This Thursday, a page in the social history of this country will also be played out somewhere.