“We have a school that is doing badly, which is at the breaking point,” warns Guislaine David, from SNUipp-FSU

Invited on franceinfo, on the eve of a major day of mobilization, the joint general secretary of the teachers’ union SNUipp-FSU, criticizes the recent comments of the new Minister of National Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

“We have a school that is doing badly, which is at the breaking point”alerts Guislaine David, joint general secretary and spokesperson for the SNUipp-FSU teachers’ union, while teachers are called to strike and demonstrate throughout France, Thursday February 1, to “send a warning” to the government on working conditions, salaries and public schools.

“Working conditions will be at the heart of our mobilization and our demands because they have deteriorated for several years”, recalls Guislaine David. According to her, teachers are currently “at a breaking point where they can no longer practice their profession. They have really lost the meaning of the profession.”

“The minister attacked teachers”

The SNUipp-FSU representative discusses the purchasing power of teachers which has “decreased over the last 20 years. We have seen a deterioration in salaries.” She judges that the measures taken by the government “were not enough, especially for mid-careers”.

But Guislaine David also shares another point of “crisp” teachers which concerns the comments of Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of National Education, Youth, Sports and the Olympic Games. The minister “attacked, upon his arrival, public schools and attacked teachers directly”recalls the trade unionist. “We see new cases every day which add to the Amélie Oudéa-Castéra file. It is not legitimate for most teachers and we can clearly see that there is tension over the very person of the minister. For us, it does not represent National Education.“

Guislaine David criticizes Amélie Oudéa-Castéra for being “a part-time minister” due to the multiple portfolios she has to manage. “It’s a form of contempt for the staff and they will say it tomorrow in the streets and on strike.” Amélie Oudéa-Castéra “is not recognized by the profession” due in particular to “his lies and everything that happened following his first statements”critic Guislaine David.

“We need a full-time minister”

“The Ministry of National Education is an important ministry with 1.2 million employees and we need a full-time minister, not a part-time minister”, insists the SNUipp spokesperson. Between the Olympic Games “a major event in a few months” and the Paralympic Games “which will take place at the start of the school year”the minister “spends a lot of time on these issues. And during that time, she does not take care of National Education.”

“It’s really this demand for a full ministry that we have. And that’s also why we can’t trust. And trust with teachers will be very difficult to regain “, adds Guislaine David. The minister “delivers a discourse on the school which is far from the demands of staff currently.”

Faced with the demands of teachers, “working conditions, loss of professional meaning, professional burnout”Amélie Oudéa-Castéra responds “authority, she answers Marseillaise, she answers unique outfit”, judge Guislaine David. “We are not in the school we want for our students. And that is also important to say tomorrow.”