Teaching staff from French-speaking schools in Wallonia and Brussels have been called on to strike later this month, with schools expected to close due to the action.
The Joint Trade Union Front has called on teachers in the French Community (also known as the Wallonia-Brussels Federation) to go on strike on Tuesday, 26 November, RTBF reports.
This marks the first strike action by teachers since the MR-Les Engagés government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation came into power in July. Trade unions have said the strike is aimed at denouncing the new French Community Government's "declaration of war" against teachers.
The strike will not be accompanied by a protest march, as has been the case in the past, but public awareness campaigns will be launched instead. It is expected that school will have to shut their doors.
Leading to job losses
The community policy statement published this summer included measures which unions quickly argued were cause for concern. The cost-cutting measures already decided for the official Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement network are also a cause for concern.
Under the new plans, the new government will abolish giving teachers a permanent position – which provides job security and pay retention – and will likely replaced by open-ended contracts (CDI). This system change will likely not come into effect until the 2027/28 school year, but is already creating angst among young teachers, who are still hoping to be appointed before the new rules come into force.
Unions believe solutions proposed to tackle the teacher shortages, experienced by schools across the country, will lead to a drop in working conditions and add to workloads. Finally, when it comes to plans to merge classes or programmes with nearby schools, referred to as "rationalising of options", unions feel job losses are inevitable.
Making people angry
The articles in the draft decree are currently being voted on in the parliament of the French community, and the government is proceeding to concretise the measures.
Numerous information events were organised by unions in recent months to explain to members what impact they measures may have. The "need" to take strike action quickly became clear and was unanimously supported, said Luc Toussaint, the new president of the CGSP-Enseignement.
"Of the sixty or so articles contained in the draft decree currently being voted on by the parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, there are 60 that make people angry," he said.
In the meantime, meetings and discussions are taking place between the community's Education Minister Valérie Glatigny and the unions, but the unions currently feel that they are "not being heard".
