French primary teachers are to have their power to strike curtailed, after more than 20,000 carried placards through Paris last week, writes Jane Marshall in Paris.
According to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s proposal, teachers would have to give 48 hours’ notice of a strike, and local authorities would have to provide alternative facilities.
Teachers’ unions have condemned his plans as an attack on constitutional rights, but polls show he has 60 per cent public backing.
Primary schools will be required to provide a “minimum service” during strikes, Mr Sarkozy said, after about half of France’s teaching workforce went on strike this month in protest at the axing of teaching posts. Last week they walked out again, as part of a public sector pension protest.
