This morning, at 10:30 a.m., around fifteen presidents of Ile-de-France universities are meeting to launch “a call for urgent action”.
They will march in front of the Senate, the National Assembly and the Hôtel de Matignon to demand a billion euros “to keep the Republican promise made to young people” and ask for the triggering of an “emergency plan in favor of the university now and for the future”.
There was inevitably a little impatience to rediscover the folklore of the processions this Thursday. Perhaps also a touch of apprehension for Raphaël Glucksmann, he who was chased from the street under a flood of insults two years ago in Saint-Étienne. So, in order not to relive this bad film, an army of socialist elected officials took care to surround the candidate, who arrived discreetly on the Place de la République. However, we did not have to wait long to hear the first whistles ring out in the Parisian parade. Then, the first salvos of invective launched by troops of activists: “Everyone hates the PS”, “Get lost!”, “Shame on you!”, “Sold!”… “Raphaël, president!”, responded in chorus the supporters of the social democrat, gathered behind a large banner.
But these few words of support were not enough to cover the boos which accompanied each of the social democratic candidate's steps. A few meters from him, a sign showed his face embedded in a toilet bowl. Dressed all in black, Raphaël Glucksmann remained impassive, even when a man tried to throw Insoumis leaflets at the socialist delegation. The MEP even continued to wear a broad smile, as if to throw off his detractors. “The subject is the mobilization of workers. If there are political activists who are hostile to our presence, I don’t care. I don’t care!” he said in front of the cameras, before the start of the inter-union movement. This is proof, those close to him believe, that their champion is the victim of harassment and even intimidation from radical activists, who would seek to silence him.
GLUCKSMANN MISSED ON THE SOCIAL FIELD
The National Rally (RN) vice-president of the Assembly, Sébastien Chenu, calls on the executive to “anticipate” the management of demonstrations. Yesterday's mobilization brought together 575,000 demonstrators according to Beauvau and 1.6 million according to the CGT. “I am very attached to the freedom to demonstrate,” defended the nationalist on LCI. In the event of accession to power, the elected official assures that with the RN there will be “constant dialogue with civil society”. “We don’t have to wait until they are in the street to meet them,” he continues.
The Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, will receive the unions on Monday at Matignon, for a “social conference”. “She is welcome, but we have already been fooled,” retorts the MP from the flame party, who is calling for a 10% salary increase, “up to three times the minimum wage”, accompanied by a “freeze of employer contributions”.
Guest on RTL, Marylise Léon, general secretary of the CFDT, welcomed Thursday's mobilization. “There were more than a million of us yesterday, we now need adequate answers,” she declared, a few days before her reception at Matignon on Monday. It also confirms the demand for an increase of 100 euros in the minimum wage and “real salary dynamics” while the reduction in scales means that “you can progress in a company and have a very low increase”.
“In the private and public sectors, we can no longer make ends meet.” Faced with the employers' already displayed refusal, she denounces a “Pavlovian reflex” and believes that the ball is in their court. The same goes for the government which “can’t wait for the presidential election” to meet their expectations. For her, there is also the question of aid to businesses for which “conditionality” should be reviewed, due to lack of “sufficient evaluation” of their real usefulness.
“We have not crossed the finish line, but we have taken important steps” in negotiations on salaries, assured Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou on TF1. While the executive is due to convene a “social conference” on Monday, he said he was in favor of an anticipated increase in the minimum wage on December 1. “I find that the symbol is important, it shows that we are taking action.” If necessary, the decision should be taken next week to be implemented on time.
As for the amount, Jean-Pierre Farandou mentioned “the 1,500 euros net mark”, deeming it “important”, without committing to a sum, while the unions are demanding 100 to 150 euros net more. The minimum wage today is 1477.93 euros per month.
The Minister of Labor also wants to “act quickly on negotiations in the branches”, while successive increases in the minimum wage have caught up with salaries at the bottom of the scales. A pious wish formulated by the government for several years, without any effect. But this time, “we are ready to act,” promises Jean-Pierre Farandou. “We have a decree which is ready, and which would strongly encourage the branches to raise their minimums”, under penalty of seeing their costs increase.
The inter-union organization behind the day of demonstrations on Thursday will decide on the continuation of the mobilization at the end of the social conference organized on Monday by Matignon, deploring the absence of meetings for civil servants and young people, she indicated on Friday.
“The union organizations repeat it, the only thing that will stop the mobilization is the response to the demands made for several weeks by employees, civil servants, young people and retirees,” write the CFDT, the CGT, FO, the CFE-CGC, the CFTC, the Unsa, the FSU and Solidaires, the day after a national day of social mobilization for wages.
“The inter-union will meet again this Monday at the end of the meeting organized in Matignon and will decide on the follow-up to the mobilization,” write the unions in their press release, also taking note of the fact that the civil servants and young people, mobilized in large numbers, “do not even have an appointment”.
The press release also denounces “the unacceptable obstacles to the exercise of the right to demonstrate” on Thursday, via “bans and route modifications” and “the repression of demonstrations in Toulouse and Lyon”.
Providing “all their support to the injured activists and demonstrators”, the unions are demanding that light be shed on these events.
In a climate still under tension in high schools, the main union of school heads, SNPDEN-Unsa, is concerned to see an unusual number of principals considering leaving their positions or requesting a transfer. Its secretary general, Bruno Bobkiewicz, spoke of “around fifty colleagues” in this situation, speaking to RTL on Thursday, November 5. Although this figure is only an estimate established by the union based on interviews carried out with school heads, it calls out to Olivier Beaufrere, principal and national education and pedagogical secretary of the organization. “We’ve never seen this. Until now, principals remained in their positions when they were nearing the end of their careers. Today, some are ready to become principals of colleges again (where the students do not hold a blockade, Editor’s note),” he notes sadly.
This first evaluation of SNPDEN-Unsa comes in the middle of “movement operations for the next school year”. Every year, National Education management personnel must submit their transfer requests on a platform. This year, the deadline is November 8. After three years in the same position, they can request a new assignment in their academy or elsewhere in France. The process becomes obligatory after nine years of practice in the same establishment, unless exempted. A principal can thus ask to take over the management of another high school, but also of a middle school, and obtaining a position depends in particular on the places available, the profile of the candidates and the needs of the service.
THESE “WORN AND LAMINATED” TEACHERS
Sébastien Lecornu will convene a “social conference” with union and employer organizations on Monday in Matignon, his services announced Thursday at the end of a day of demonstrations and strikes on wages and purchasing power at the call of the unions.
This conference aims to “provide answers to questions of purchasing power and wages”, specifies Matignon in a press release.
In the meantime, Mr. Lecornu asked the Minister of Labor Jean-Pierre Farandou “to finalize by Sunday the consultations he has been carrying out for several days” on these subjects, while the Minister of Action and Public Accounts David Amiel “continues his discussions with representatives of civil service agents”, according to the same source.
CFDT and CGT officials again called on Thursday for a substantial increase in the minimum wage and, beyond that, for increases in wages overall.
