Massive French demonstrations protest education job cuts

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Xavier Darcos, his minister of education, seem intent on picking a fight with the French unions.

Education in France is a national responsibility. Sarkozy and Darcos say it is essential for France to reform its education system and improve its results.

To do this, they want to cut the number of teachers by 12,000 in the 2008-2009 school year, after dismissing more than 8,000 in this school year. This will mean bigger classes and fewer electives offered in secondary schools, and less help offered to students who are having trouble getting an education.

On May 15, 200,000 to 300,000 people—mainly teachers, students and public employees who are also facing cutbacks—took to the streets throughout France in a one-day strike, called by a coalition of union confederations, to oppose these job cuts. According to figures from the FSU union, which is supported by a majority of elementary and secondary teachers, nearly half of the more than 800,000 teachers in France were on strike.

There were 60,000 people in the streets of Paris, while 30,000 came out in Marseilles. Significant demonstrations were also held in Brest, Quimper, Rennes, Grenoble, Pau, Bayonne, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Nice and Rouen. In some of the smaller cities, according to a report in L’Humanité, the riot cops harshly harassed protesters but no significant incident was reported.

To blunt the effectiveness of the strikes which the teachers, with major support from students and their parents, are holding, Sarkozy is insisting that “a minimum level of service” be provided everywhere in France, using the money the state saves by not paying the striking teachers.

On the left in France, the more radical elements see the “minimum level of service” as an attack on the constitutional right to strike, while more moderate elements see an unconstitutional mandate on local communities.

The FSU held a nationwide demonstration in Paris on May 18 to kick off a week of protests, which is scheduled to culminate in massive demonstrations on May 22. According to the union, about 45,000 people marched behind a banner that read, “Everyone should succeed! Struggle against inequality!”

FSU General Secretary Gérard Aschieri, who is the son of Italian immigrants, released a statement pointing out that Sarkozy has not taken any real steps to bargain with the unions but has “crossed a veritable red line” in attempting to limit the right to strike.

Aschieri went on to say: “While he [Sarkozy] affirms the necessity of improving education, he proposes no solutions to the concrete problems which confront our education system. That is not how, for example, we solve the question of getting every student to succeed, of fighting against inequality, of improving our profession. ... He refuses the dialog indispensable not only for avoiding conflicts but also for providing new morale in public service.” (actu.fsu.fr)

The French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur published a roundup of the statements of the leaders of the major unions May 16. They all said they were ready and preferred to talk, but that if the government wanted a confrontation they were not going to back away from one.

While the demonstrations were focused on education and public service, a strong contingent of undocumented workers marched May 15 behind a banner that read “Legalization for all workers without papers! Equal rights for French and immigrant workers!” This contingent also participated in a May 10 Paris march marking the abolition of slavery in France and opposing current discrimination.