On the bus side, only 60% of the usual offer was available on Monday and five out of eight tram lines managed by the RATP were very seriously disrupted on Monday.
A hundred RATP bus drivers demonstrated Monday in front of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the first of three days of strike against the modification of their working hours as part of the opening to competition. Gathered at the call of the main trade union organizations of the transport authority (CGT, FO and Unsa), they protested against the management’s decision to increase their working hours by 20 hours per year against a salary increase of 420 gross euros. The strike movement, planned for three days, caused major disruptions on the surface network but had no impact on the metro and the RER.
On the bus side, only 60% of the usual offer was available on Monday and five out of eight tram lines managed by the RATP were very seriously disrupted, only running during peak hours and in reduced service. For Tuesday, the disturbances will be equivalent, announced the RATP. The only difference is that line T5 of the tram, spared on Monday, will only run this time during peak hours and at a frequency of one in two trains compared to the usual rate.
During the last day of the strike, March 25, only 30% of the transport offer could be ensured, recalled the RATP, insisting on the improvement of the situation. For its part, the CGT was nevertheless delighted with a rate of strikers of 60% among bus and tram drivers, while the RATP did not advance any figures. The new organization of working time for machinists is due to come into force on August 1, after being postponed by one month. The RATP, which will lose its monopoly on Paris and the inner suburbs in 2025, is forced to adapt the working conditions of its drivers, which are more advantageous than those in force with its competitors.
The objective is to approach as closely as possible the “territorialized social framework” which sets minimum social rules on the territory of Paris and its inner suburbs for all future market players.
The management of the RATP has proposed an agreement providing for the elimination of six days of leave and 120 hours of work more per year against a salary increase of 2,600 euros gross, or the equivalent of a fourteenth month.
But no union organization agreed to affix its signature. For the CGT, this agreement actually provides for an increase in working time of 190 hours per year against salary compensation of 1,900 euros gross, contrary to what management claims. “We want to make our refusal to open up to competition heard,” insisted Jean-Christophe Delprat, federal secretary FO Transports. “If tomorrow transport becomes a business of private boxes, if there are four people on a bus, well this bus will no longer run,” he warned, calling on users to support the movement.