Has the Ministry of National Education sent an email asking to report striking teachers in solidarity with the mobilization of high school students?

Monday, November 2, the rebellious MP for Ille-et-Vilaine, Marie Mesmeur, shared on the social network In this email sent on October 15, the Secretary General of the Ministry of National Education asks all rectors of French academies to deduct paydays from the salaries of teachers on strike during high school mobilization days. Same request for undeclared teachers who “do not carry out their service”, we can read in this e-mail.

This concerns “teachers absent without reason” and those “refusing to welcome their students” in high schools where classes are held, the ministry specifies in the email. In blocked high schools, teachers who refused to “ensure educational continuity” with the organization of videoconference lessons or homework are included in the count. The ministry finally asks to ensure that "the teachers who participated in the blockades alongside the high schools" and "identified" by the school management are "counted as strikers".

The publication alerted many Internet users worried about a "hunt for teachers in solidarity" with the high school mobilization while rebellious MP Marie Mesmeur denounced an "authoritarian drift". For his part, the Minister of National Education, Edouard Geffray, affirmed on November 3, during a trip to the René-Descartes high school in Champs-sur-Marne, in the Paris suburbs, that it was a "circular email (...) sent by the administration each time there is a strike or a protest movement". A “classic” procedure, he defends, to apply a “daily withholding” of wages to strikers. “If ever certain teachers refuse to take their service or to carry out their service without this prior declaration, they are considered as strikers,” he specifies.

“No colleague received instructions”

Three weeks after sending this message, the government instructions do not seem to have been followed up in secondary schools. “In my opinion, this email was unsuccessful. No colleague received any instructions,” assures Bruno Bobkiewicz, general secretary of SNPDEN, the union of school heads. Same observation for Laurent Kaufmann, federal secretary of CFDT Education:

“It seems that this message never reached the heads of establishment. There is a strong probability that the rector did not send it.”

Laurent Kaufmann, federal secretary of CFDT Education

at franceinfo

Questioned by franceinfo, MP Marie Mesmeur specifies that she was informed of the sending of this email by a source within a rectorate. The elected official fears that the rectors, "depending on their zeal", will "pass the instruction unofficially" and that the directors of the establishment "choose to apply it or not". The rectorates contacted did not wish to comment on the subject. L'Humanité, for its part, was also able to consult this email dated October 15.

“A teacher can refuse to do distancing”

Minister Edouard Geffray did not mention, during his trip, the case of teachers from stranded high schools who did not teach remotely. Two sources, however, told franceinfo that the ministry's General Directorate of Human Resources returned to this point, during a meeting on Wednesday November 4, recognizing an "awkwardness", given a "regulatory basis that is not necessarily clear".

Speaking to franceinfo, the minister's office recalls on the one hand that "teachers have the right to strike". “When they exercise this right, the day of strike gives rise to a deduction from their remuneration. This is the rule in the State civil service,” continues those around him. "The email of October 15 (...) asks the rectors to check, for the days concerned, whether the teachers provided the service requested of them. When a high school was closed, the message expressly provides that a teacher could transmit work to his students."

“The absence of videoconference classes is therefore not enough to justify detention. It is the refusal of any activity that constitutes the exercise of the right to strike.”

the office of Edouard Geffray

at franceinfo

Concerning the teachers who participated in a blockage, those close to the minister explain that, "here again, the only criterion is the actual service that the teacher had to provide that day". “If the teacher has actually provided his service, he is not considered as on strike. His mere presence in front of the school is not enough to establish that he has failed in his service,” assures Edouard Geffray’s entourage, affirming that there is “no record” of teachers on this subject.

Do teachers have a regulatory obligation to ensure educational continuity remotely, during high school blockages? “There has never been a framework, the teaching service is carried out in schools and not at home,” believes Jean-Rémi Girard, president of the SNALC teachers’ union. Teachers are in fact not affected by the agreement on teleworking for National Education staff.

For lawyer Antoine Fouret, a specialist in education law, the ministry's instructions are "at a minimum clumsy and at a maximum completely illegal". According to him, “the question is not really settled” and is based on the latest case law, which is that of the “extremely derogatory” period of Covid-19. Educational continuity can clash with educational freedom. A “cardinal notion in matters of education law”, according to Antoine Fouret. “A teacher can refuse to do distance learning and say ‘there is a practical dimension that we cannot do by video, so my course does not make sense by video’.”

“We sense a ministry in dire straits”

In addition to this regulatory absence, there are practical and ethical difficulties in implementing these directives. “When do we consider that the colleague is not doing the job properly? Me, I am not capable of evaluating that. I do not have traceability of who connects or gives work or not when we are remotely”, estimates Bruno Bobkiewicz, general secretary of SNPDEN. For Laurent Kaufmann, this would add fuel to the fire.

“Philosophically, it is still very boring to ask school leaders to monitor teachers, in a context of very great tensions in educational communities.”

Laurent Kaufmann, federal secretary of CFDT Education

at franceinfo

“We find it really scandalous,” comments Isabelle Vuillet, co-general secretary of the CGT Educ’action union. “We still sense a ministry in dire straits, which seeks to muzzle the movement by all means.” “Many colleagues are worried,” adds Vincent Jolivet, professor of history and geography in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) and member of the CGT.