A boost on wages to calm social discontent? While the finance bill for 2025 provides for the elimination of 4,000 teaching positions, the Ministry of National Education announced to the teaching unions, Wednesday October 16, its intention to launch a project on the remuneration of teaching staff and on his working conditions. The inter-union filed a “social alert” on Monday, prior to a strike notice, to contest the savings planned in the next budget.
Seven unions (FSU, Unsa, FO, CFDT Education, CGT Educ’action, Snalc and Sud Education) were therefore received by the minister’s office, including the entourage assures not to have “expected” grumbles her to look into the subject. A next meeting with all the union organizations is planned for October 21 to prepare for the 2025 school year.
The Ministry of National Education said it announced four areas of work on Wednesday, starting with an increase in salaries at the bottom of the scale, in particular accompanying students with disabilities (AESH) and education assistants (AED), by transposing the increase in the minimum wage on their pay slips from November. A measure which would be in addition to the financing of 2,000 new AESH, provided for in the 2025 budget. The ministry estimates the number of AEDs who will benefit from the increase in the minimum wage at 50,000.
Anne Genetet also plans to reassess salary increases to compensate for the decline, mid-career, in teacher remuneration. The ministry specifies that more than 100,000 teachers will be affected by 2027, with a salary increase of 150 to 350 euros net per month. However, a revaluation has already been underway for these teachers since 2023 through the increase in “out of class” promotions, a grade which allows for a salary increase and faster career progression. It was announced by Pap Ndiaye, but was only planned until 2025, as the ministry recently recalled on its website.
Increases are also being considered for management and school health staff. Finally, the ministry aims to call on more CPEs (senior education advisors) and education assistants in establishments affected by acts of violence. According to the ministry, all unions have accepted “to open a new social agenda” and of “resume a dialogue” on these areas of work.
“We have not had any announcements about careers and salarieshowever, points out Caroline Brisedoux, national secretary of the CFDT Education, Training, Public Research. We were simply informed of the opening of a social dialogue on the subject.”. She told franceinfo that the meeting was “tense”.
With a budget of 63 billion euros next year, National Education remains the largest item of State expenditure, generally stable. Rue de Grenelle therefore ensures that it has “room for maneuver” to finance its salary increase objectives or to increase CPE positions. The ministry is thus banking on a rebalancing with “net job creations”while the 4,000 cuts will only concern teachers, mainly in nursery and elementary schools. Anne Genetet also assured in an interview with the Tribune Sunday what “developments” regarding job cuts were still possible during the “parliamentary debate” on the 2025 budget.
Faced with the concerns of the unions, his cabinet reiterated this openness on Wednesday. By not committing to a reduction in the number of job cuts“the ministry does not understand the seriousness of the crisis facing public schools”, criticizes Franceinfo Maud Valegeas, federal co-secretary of Sud Education.
Since the announcement of the finance bill for 2025, this reduction in the number of teachers has been criticized by all the unions. The ministry estimates, for its part, that the drop in school demographics, with in particular 21.4 students per class in primary (nursery and elementary) in schools at the start of the next school year, justifies not replacing retirements or not renewing contract workers.
It is also planned, according to Anne Genetet’s entourage, to distribute the job cuts according to disciplines in order to preserve those which are in tension. As for the class closures that this will cause, the ministry explains that arbitrations will be made, academy by academy, between December and February. Arguments swept aside by the inter-union, which judges that the reduction in the number of primary school pupils must precisely be “the opportunity to improve the French school system”, by not affecting jobs.
Currently, France has the busiest classes in the European Union with two more students than the European average in primary school, and three in middle school. Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, also denounced on X Emmanuel Macron’s record since 2017 concerning the supervision rate. Its union puts forward the figure of 8,865 job cuts in secondary education and recalls that the number of students has increased at the same time.
