The Federation of the National Education (''Fédération de l'Education nationale'' or FEN) was a French federation of teaching unions. It succeeded the

General Federation of Teaching A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online. Mar ...

(''Fédération générale de l'enseignement'') founded in 1929 and affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (''Confédération générale du travail'' or CGT). After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the CGT split, and the reformist wing created

Workers' Force The General Confederation of Labor - Workers' Force (, or simply , FO), is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT and the CFDT. Force Ouvrière was founded in 1948 by former ...

. In 1948, the teaching federation voted to leave the CGT and become independent. A minority of members retained dual membership with the CGT, and formed a new CGT Federation of Education. The FEN was dominated by the group called "Unity, independence and democracy" close to the

Socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

. The minority groups were "Unity and action", influenced by the

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, and "Emancipated school" close to the

far left Far or FAR may refer to: Government * Federal Acquisition Regulation, US * Federal Aviation Regulations, US * Florida Administrative Register, US Military and paramilitary * Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: '), a defunct guerilla organization ...

. The FEN was nicknamed the "fortress of teachers" and advocated

secular education Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a secular government or separation of church and state, separation between religion and Sovereign state, state. History Secular educational systems were a modern development inte ...

. Its power and mobilization capacity were dreaded by the government, but it imploded due to its political divisions. At the beginning of the 1990s, faced with the growth of "Unity and action", the Socialist majority proposed that the union should affiliate to a non-CGT national union confederation. The unions dominated by "Unity and action" were ejected and founded the

Fédération Syndicale Unitaire The Fédération syndicale unitaire is the main trade union in the education sector in France and the largest trade union in the public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both ...

(FSU, United Trade Union Federation). The FEN and other reformist unions of

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

s created the

National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions The National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (, UNSA) is one of the French confederations of trade unions, but they do not have the of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), Workers' Force ...

(''Union nationale des syndicats autonomes'' or UNSA). In 2000, the FEN became

UNSA Education UNSA may refer to: Universities * Universitas Surakarta, Surakarta, Indonesia * Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France * National University of St Augustin of Arequipa (''Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa''), Arequipa, P ...

. However, UNSA Education today represents a minority in the teaching world and has largely been surpassed by the FSU.

Affiliates

The largest affiliates were: * National Teachers' Union (SNI) * National union of secondary education (SNES) * Administration and Stewardship union (A&I) * National union of agents of national education (SNAEN) * National Union for Higher Education (SNESup) * National union of technical staff in higher education (SNPTES) * National union for physical education (SNEP) * National Union of Autonomous Action Technical Education (SNETAA) * Union of nurses and health educators (snies) * National trade union of technical and pedagogical advisers of popular education

General Secretaries

:1945: Adrien Lavergne :1956: Georges Lauré :1966: James Marangé :1974:

André Henry André Henry (born 15 October 1934) is a French politician. He served as Minister of Free Time from 1981 to 1983, under former President François Mitterrand.Claire Frances Ullman, ''The welfare state's other crisis: explaining the new partnershi ...

:1981: Jacques Pommatau :1987: Yannick Simbron :1991: Guy Le Néouannic :1997: Jean-Paul Roux

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Federation For National Education National trade union centers of France Education trade unions Trade unions in France

Affiliates

General Secretaries

See also

References