FRANCE: Strikes continue despite teacher-training concession

Striking lecturers and researchers are continuing their eight-week stoppage, despite a further concession by Education Minister Xavier Darcos over teacher-training reform.

The biggest higher education union also rejected an amended decree modifying academics' job status at a meeting with Higher Education and Research Minister Valérie Pécresse.

Up to 30,000 protesting lecturers, researchers and students - joined by two university presidents - demonstrated on Tuesday in Paris and other major towns, while during the week individual institutions continued organising protest actions such as holding lectures in public places, local demonstrations and boycotting administrative duties.

On Thursday, several hundred researchers and their supporters picketed the headquarters of the the national centre for scientific research in protest against 'demolition' of the research system, and about 150 protesters occupied the room where its governing board was meeting. Two weeks ago, 250 research unit directors met in Paris threatening collective resignation if their demands were not heard.

Last week's demonstrations and protests went ahead even though Darcos made a gesture by delaying his teacher-training reform and offering talks.

Darcos wrote to union leaders specifying that the reform would not now be in place until 2010-11. In his letter he said the competitive examinations for recruitment of primary and secondary schoolteachers would be maintained "in their present state" for the 2009-10 session. This would postpone the training schedule by a year - a decision in line with union demands since the beginning of the strike, and with a call earlier this month by university presidents.

In his 10-point letter, the minister set out other adjustments and clarifications, and invited the unions "to discuss these elements in a series of meetings and thematic working groups which will tackle each of the aspects of the reform".

Although unions welcomed Darcos' overtures, they said there were still points that did not yet go far enough. But the way looks open for negotiations, and Pécresse cancelled her attendance at the university presidents' annual conference on Friday to take part in meetings.

During a meeting of the joint ministry-union consultative committee last week, Pécresse discussed with unions the redrafted version of a contentious decree modifying lecturers' job status - another major cause of the protests. In spite of amendments two unions continued to oppose it, including Snesup the biggest in higher education, and their representatives walked out in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Other unions voted for the decree or abstained while Snesup later called for "mobilisation of the university community to intensify for withdrawal of the decree".

The universities' national strike committee has called Thursday to be the next "great day of demonstrations in defence of the public education service from nursery to university".

jane.marshall@uw-news.com