Teachers strike in seven departments

TEACHERS in seven French departments, including Paris, have voted to strike again today, just 48 hours after the nationwide day of action against pensions reforms.

While the national branches of the main teaching unions have not announced an open-ended walkout, a number of local branches are calling on members to keep up the action.

In Paris, the call was launched by the local branch of SNUipp, the biggest teaching union. It is supported by four other unions in the capital.

They said in a joint statement: "A massive and long-term movement is vital to make the government go back on its plans."

The other affected departments are the Gard, Haute-Garonne, Haute-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, Sarthe and Tarn-et-Garonne.

SNUipp head office said it would await the outcome of an inter-union meeting today before deciding its next course of action.

A separate strike today is affecting schools in Lyon, where teaching staff are protesting against working conditions and staff shortages.

Since 2008, primary schools in France have been required by law to provide a minimum level of service in the event of a strike. Unions are required to give 48 hours' notice of a planned strike.

However the rules do not apply to collèges and lycées and, in practice, the minimum service is not consistently applied by mairies.

For example, Paris city council said it was only able to offer a minimum level of service in a third of primary schools on Tuesday, because of a lack of qualified staff available to look after the children.

The Senate's vote on the pensions reform has been pushed back to next Wednesday. It was originally due tomorrow afternoon.