French education crisis nationwide student and teacher strike Tuesday, Digi Mart USA News (France): A coalition of youth organizations and teachers’ unions is calling for a new day of strikes and demonstrations on Tuesday, as negotiations with the government have reached an impasse nearly two months after high school and university student protests began.
“We call on all those who support the legitimate demands of young people, but also those of workers, to be on the streets tomorrow,” said Éloïse Lefebvre-Milon, co-secretary general of the Union étudiante, after a meeting at Matignon on the reform of Parcoursup ended without progress.
The intersyndicale, which includes the CGT, FSU, FO, Solidaires, Union syndicale lycéenne, Unef, Union étudiante, Fage and FSE, had called on Saturday for a new day of mobilization on Tuesday. The signatories said in a joint statement that it was “time to amplify the mobilization by continuing to put pressure on the government.”
The previous day of mobilization on November 5 drew between 575,000 according to authorities and 1.6 million demonstrators across France. Ryad Rani, president of the Union syndicale lycéenne, said after meeting the prime minister Monday evening that “the balance of power is on our side” and that the movement must continue, though he said it had not yet achieved victories.
The government announced two weeks ago a gradual transformation of Parcoursup starting in 2027, with a complete replacement in 2028. It also promised additional investment in school buildings and new resources for the establishments facing the greatest difficulties.
Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the Snes-FSU, the leading union in secondary education, told AFP that the day is intended to be a broad mobilization with strikes, demonstrations and rallies, with supervised and secured marches, as tensions are rising in front of high schools. She said the strike was expected to be followed in some places, though likely less widely than November 5, when the ministry said nearly 16% of teachers went on strike.
Demonstrations are planned in most major French cities. In Paris, a march will leave the Panthéon at 2:00 p.m.
heading toward Place d’Italie. After its planned march from the Bastille was banned, the student assembly Interfac Île-de-France decided to join the Paris procession to “stand together,” according to member Coppélia Moreau.
The day of action also comes amid a broader mobilization of the civil service: a union coalition has called for a strike on November 17 to demand, among other things, salary increases, while the CGT has invited “all employees, retirees and young people” to take part.
