700 students faced with a “dead canteen” operation this week in their high school

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They are nearly 700 lunch there daily. Enjoy the starters, main courses and desserts concocted throughout the week by the self-service teams. But since Monday, November 25, 2024, the students of the Vincent-Auriol high school in Revel – as well as their teachers and educational assistants – have seen their lunch trays less full than usual. The latter will in fact have to deal, in the coming days, with a “reduced” school catering service. In any case, this is what the head of the establishment indicated in an email sent to families on Friday November 22.

The reasons for this strike movement? The “personnel saving measures announced by the Haute-Garonne department”. “Given the deterioration of their working conditions, agents will block lunch servicenext week”, then justified the management in this communication that Voice of Midi Lauragais was able to obtain.

Operation “dead canteen” with a blockade as a result

But let the families be reassured, the cafeteria of the Vincent-Auriol school campus will not come to a complete standstill. At least not all week. The service, already reduced this Monday lunchtime, will also be reduced on Tuesday November 26 and Friday November 29: “No starter will be served on these days, a single dish will be prepared, cheese and dessert served”, we inform the side of the school structure.

According to our information, this “dead canteen” operation should especially take on its meaning this Thursday, November 28 with the holding ofa “real blockade”. And the closing of the kitchens. “We will not be able to provide the catering service for half-boarders at all,” it is confirmed in the email sent to parents. We ask families to provide their children with a cold meal. »

Please note, however, that the catering service will continue to operate for boarding students who will be welcomed, as usual, throughout the week.

Understaffed agents

If the agents employed by the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne – which notably provides the catering and accommodation service of the Révélo high school – are mobilizing, it is because they have been facing for some time now understaffing problems. “The establishment should be equipped with 18 full-time equivalents spread over catering, maintenance, reception… But They are only 16″we contextualize on the side of the school campus.

And the recent announcements of job cuts within the community do not help matters. “The Departmental Council decided to not renew contract workers (due to budgetary restrictions due to the 2025 Finance Bill, Editor's note). And we are almost sure that one of the Revel agents, who is having his interview this week, will not be reappointed. There will therefore be no more than 15 FTEthree fewer than initially planned. »

“The first announcements of the 2025 Finance Bill require the Departments to make an unsustainable additional effort […]. Of the 160 million savings imposed by the State, 21 million euros of savings are to be made in human resources operations. Since the Covid crisis, the Department has considerably increased the hiring of contract workers. Today, the payroll has reached a level much higher than that of comparable Departments. The community must return to a sustainable level and reduce the number of agents, between 400 and 500 positions in total,” confirms the community to Voice of Midi Lauragais.

The Department “in conjunction with the college team”

An unbearable situation for the teams whose working conditions are getting worse and worse with risks of overload, exhaustion and therefore stoppages. A situation that the management of the establishment is preparing, according to our information, to denounce in a letter addressed to the president of the Department. Objective: to alert him to this crisis context while asking him to reconsider his decision. “The establishment has informed the Departmental Council of its operating difficulties and supports the community. Our services are linked to the college team to support them as best as possible. »

A strike movement that could last?

However, it is difficult to say whether the strike movement could drag on. “We stay very attentive to the evolution of the situation and will keep you informed of the outcome,” we assure from the school campus.

“The Department will pay particular attention to maintain a sufficient level of staff to guarantee the continuity of catering services in the best possible conditions”promises for its part the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne. Before specifying plans to “double the pool of replacements, which will increase to 50 agents in 2025” in order to “compensate for occasional absences”.

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