On a trip to the Hérault, Emmanuel Macron tries to seduce teachers

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses schoolchildren, parents and teachers during his visit to a middle school, Thursday, April 20, 2023 in Ganges in the Hérault. AP - Daniel Cole

Text by: RFI Follow

5 min

French President Emmanuel Macron announced this Thursday, April 20, an increase in teachers' salaries from the start of the school year, not without being questioned again by residents and hundreds of demonstrators opposed to the pension reform.

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The meeting took place in the playground of the Louise-Michel de Ganges college, the electricity having been cut off in the establishment, at the initiative of the CGT. For two hours, Emmanuel Macron listened to members of the educational community. And after a long exchange with teachers, parents and students, the head of state announced an "unconditional increase" in salary of 100 to 230 euros net monthly for teachers, "at all career levels" and this "from the beginning of the school year". The announced increase will be increased "up to 500 euros per month" for those who accept new missions, on a voluntary basis, added the head of state, without giving further details.

By launching his "hundred days" project to try to close the parenthesis of the pension crisis, Emmanuel Macron had promised Monday that the school would change "at sight ofit" in September. As early as the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron had put forward two tracks: an "unconditional" 10% increase in salaries and an increase linked to new missions, called "pact". But all the trade unions had slammed the door of negotiations in March on the "pact" part, refusing to "work more to earn more". "We are quite far from the account", because with 10% increase, "we barely spend a year of inflation", reacted, Sébastien Rome the LFI deputy of the constituency.

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This announcement is very far from the goal, reacts to RFI Jean-Rémi Girard, of the National Union of High Schools and Colleges (Snalc). It's better than nothing, but it would take another nine or ten times this measure to catch up with teachers' purchasing power." He does not believe in 500 euros per month. "It's an almost theoretical calculation," he said. "Pretty much no one is going to touch that. This is a number given to look pretty, to inflate the ads. In reality, almost all teachers will be far below, and most of them will only be on their 100 euros per month or even a little less," he predicts.

Protesters kept at bay

In Ganges, the French president did not cross the hundreds of noisy demonstrators gathered in the morning in the city center, the procession being kept at a safe distance from the college by the police. Whistles, vuvuzelas, smoke, but no pots. Some were confiscated by gendarmes while a prefectural order prohibited "portable sound devices".

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We're here ", "Macron resign", chanted the protesters in this commune of 4,000 inhabitants of the foothills of the Cévennes, flags CGT, Unsa education, Snes-FSU and black balloons in sign of mourning in hand. Some threw eggs and potatoes at law enforcement. "Eggs and pans are just to cook at home," commented Emmanuel Macron on his arrival, in a short exchange with Sebastien Rome, who told him: "The resistance is a little far, we do not hear it, but it is there."

The day before in Alsace, Emmanuel Macron had been booed and taken to task during his first crowd bath in weeks. A return to the field decided after the promulgation of its highly contested reform raising the legal retirement age to 64 years. The head of state had then distinguished between "disagreement" and "incivility" in the protest "I will not resign," he assured a woman who expressed her disagreement on the reform. "You don't care what the people want to claim," she retorted.

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Several trips by ministers heckled or postponed

Emmanuel Macron is not the only one to see his trips heckled by opponents of the pension reform. Several ministers have been received by welcoming committees and casserolades or have been forced to give up field visits. A dozen CGT activists questioned this Thursday morning the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure, traveling to Garges-les-Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise. The Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra went through another entry for this trip dedicated to inclusion in sport.

The day before, on a trip to Agen, the Minister of Digital Jean-Noël Barrot was greeted by dozens of people with pots and pans and by a long power cut in a brewery where he was to host a conference. Same concert of pots and pans for Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecology, the same day in the Sarthe, where about twenty demonstrators unfurled a banner "The government is obstinate, we too".

Other members of the government have postponed travel. A conference on the end of life attended by the Minister Delegate for Health Professions, Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo, on Thursday, April 20, has been canceled. The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti has postponed "a few weeks" his trip scheduled the same day in Valencia. A postponement because of "the judicial holidays" and not because of the day of protest of the CGT-railwaymen, explained his entourage. The boss of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot welcomed on Twitter these "cascading cancellations": "The welcoming committees are formed as quickly as the president promulgated his infamous reform".

► To listen also: Emmanuel Macron facing the French

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With AFP)

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