A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #357 - Discrimination in the Context of Digital Mandate (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As a speaker at Ifrass (1) since September 2024, I have just been 
informed by email by the management of this social work training center 
that they will not be renewing my contract. I signed monthly contracts, 
I guided two groups of students in reflecting on their professional 
practice, and I valued our exchanges. The students and I had succeeded, 
I believe, in creating a calm and supportive atmosphere, conducive to 
discussion and the exchange of ideas, without judgment... The students 
debated freely... in short... no, allow me a few words: we had 
established a relationship of trust.

During my last session, which I didn't know was my last at the time, the 
new academic director came to address me in the room where I was with 
the students. He apologized for disrupting the session, and I replied 
that I was listening. He then asked to speak with me privately. In the 
hallway, he made it clear that if I didn't sign in electronically (2), 
he would have to do without my services. I had received an email a few 
days earlier informing me that signing would be done electronically, 
without any further explanation for this decision; to which I had 
replied that I refused and would continue signing on paper.
Since the start of my contracts with Ifrass in November 2024, this has 
been done on paper, which is then submitted to the secretary at the end 
of the session. This method of signing works very well. For the first 
time, the training center is demanding a change in this procedure, 
without any official document confirming its mandatory nature. Couldn't 
this director have waited until the end of the session or summoned me at 
another time to make such a threat? Reconstructing the event wasn't easy!

Following this brief exchange in the hallways, there was no meeting, no 
phone call, nothing resembling human contact. Then came an email, 
ordering me to sign in digitally, or else! This was followed by an 
exchange of emails where management didn't seem to criticize the content 
or substance of my contributions. No, what they couldn't tolerate, what 
the director said was a sign of a breakdown in trust, was my refusal to 
sign in digitally. No pedagogical or educational arguments were offered, 
just an arbitrary order to take attendance digitally.

And indeed, the Occitanie region, as part of its digitization policy, 
requires the implementation of digital attendance tracking. While it's 
cutting subsidies allocated to training centers (and not only to them!) 
(3), it's investing millions in digital development. Some training 
centers and universities are still "resisting," either consciously or 
due to a delay in developing their digital equipment, but how long can 
this last?

Here are the clichés we can find on the region's website:

"Today, digital technology is no longer an option! It represents a 
powerful engine of modernization, social, economic, and environmental 
progress, competitiveness, and innovation." (4) A driver of 
modernization??? When we know that digital development recreates, or 
rather perpetuates, the economic and human exploitation of countries in 
the Global South by Western countries, the appropriation of natural 
resources... in short, the continuation of colonial practices and 
enslavement, particularly in the Congo (5), can the Region really boast 
of implementing a "powerful engine of modernization"?

Environmental progress??? The digital industry uses 10% of global gold 
production, 70% of gallium production, and 80% of coltan production (6). 
Extracting these metals requires vast amounts of energy and water, 
leaving the soil, air, and water polluted around the mines. 
Manufacturing a single microchip requires about a hundred liters of 
water, not to mention the energy and water consumption for a data 
center... uh... there's a problem... With a single sentence, the Region 
is engaging in a denial of reality and implicating anyone who believes 
its claims.

Social progress??? Geopolitical tensions are multiplying around the 
digitization of the world (for example, the war in Ukraine, where 
control of the subsoil rich in lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earth 
elements is one of the stakes). (7) The digitized society has 
consequences for the socialization of its individuals, their learning, 
and their physical and mental health (8). A world without contact is 
emerging, with increased economic insecurity for workers and a pervasive 
loss of meaning! What social progress!!!

As for the other terms of regional propaganda, they belong to, or have 
been transformed by, capitalist language, leaving a harmful taste of 
social control, standardization, and dehumanization. It is this 
bitterness that has been stripping social work of its original meaning 
for years, and even more recently, of its training programs.

The Ifrass (Institute for Research and Training in Social Work) must, in 
fact, make savings. Will it be able to maintain its current payroll? 
With digital technology replacing secretaries in the case of attendance, 
one can legitimately wonder. Videoconference courses are being planned 
to reduce expenses. The content of the exchanges between students and 
instructors via screen suggests that their quality will suffer considerably.

In a recent exchange with the academic director, he described me as 
dogmatic and judgmental. But who is judging whom? It is true that I 
consider the digitization of work and institutions to be a social, 
environmental, and political catastrophe; Is this a valid reason for 
dismissal (which is equivalent to
my "non-renewal of a precarious contract")? No, it's unacceptable.
For the moment, I still haven't been able to explain my approach to the 
students, I haven't been able to review with them the year and a half we 
spent together reflecting on their practice, collectively shaping the 
future professionals they will become, I haven't been able to... no, 
this director has taken away my ability to be human, empathetic, and 
respectful towards them with a simple and essential "goodbye." I don't 
intend to let it go. I have begun various steps to initiate a debate 
within the institution, among the staff, and among the students... to be 
continued.

I don't want to participate in this social, environmental, and political 
catastrophe. Is this a reason for not renewing a contract? As for 
dehumanized social work, no thank you!

Marjo

(1) Institute for Training, Research, and Community Development in 
Health and Social Services (IFRASS).

(2) This involves recording student attendance and absences.

(3) A member of the IFRASS board of directors mentions a budget cut of 
EUR300,000 for the current year.

(4) 
https://www.laregion.fr/Occitanie-numerique-ambitions-et-solutions-La-strategie-numerique-regionale
(5) Fabien Lebrun, *Digital Barbarism*, L'échappée.

(6) Célia Izoard, *The Mining Rush in the 21st Century: An Investigation 
into Metals in the Era of Transition*, Ecocène Seuil.

(7) Nicolas Bérard, Fabien Ginisty, Matthieu Amiech, *The Hidden Face of 
Digital Technology*, Age de faire.

(8) Ecran Total Manifesto.

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4645
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