After a weekend of mobilization marked by the cancellation of 60% of trains, a ” back to normal “ is expected on Monday. Three out of four TGVs should run on December 5, the last day of the SNCF controllers’ strike. Gathered in a non-union collective, these agents – also called captains – have stopped work since Friday to demand better recognition of their status.
Questioned Sunday evening by Agence France-Presse (AFP), a spokesperson for the SNCF evokes “a gradual return to normal on Monday”, and a full recovery in traffic on Tuesday. As the management of the railway group announced on Friday, ” new encounters “ are scheduled for this week – Thursday according to the SUD-Rail union website –, “as part of the dialogue initiated for weeks with the trade unions about the captains”.
On Sunday, traffic was still severely disrupted, with 60% of TGV and Intercités canceled. With the exception of the CGT-Cheminots, all the unions (Unsa-Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail, CFDT-Cheminots and FO-Cheminots) lent their support to the movement.
Threats to the holiday season
To put pressure on the SNCF, the controllers are also threatening to strike on Christmas and New Year weekends. Fearing disruptions during the end-of-year holidays, the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, called the “collective responsibility”.
“We will do our best to ensure that there is no strike at Christmas”, promised Nicolas Limon, one of the founders of the National Collective ASCT (CNA), launched in September on Facebook and which today has nearly 3,000 members. He told AFP on Friday that “more than 80%” controllers would be on strike over the weekend.
The nearly 10,000 train supervisors at the SNCF, of whom nearly 3,000 work on the TGV and Intercités trains, have an essential function in terms of traffic and passenger safety. Without them, trains cannot run. Beyond salary issues, controllers feel “mistreated”and are demanding better consideration and an improvement in their working conditions, explained on Saturday on RMC Fabien Villedieu, SUD-Rail union representative.
“It’s a strike that we didn’t see coming, neither us nor the unions”acknowledged Thursday the CEO of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou, during a conference organized by the magazine Challenges.
After this weekend “temperature taking”SUD-Rail hopes that concrete proposals will be made during negotiations next week, saying “believe in social dialogue”especially in the run-up to Christmas.
The month of December promises to be agitated at the SNCF: this mobilization occurs just before the start of the annual negotiations for salaries, which must begin on Wednesday at group level. The CGT, SUD-Rail and CFDT have called for a “united strike” That day.