Ugo Pascolo / Photo credits: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
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07:58, February 18, 2024
A judgment without appeal. With the new social movement of SNCF controllers, in the middle of the February holiday weekend, it is a new nightmare that rail users are experiencing. And with this new walkout, the question of limiting the right to strike during school vacation periods resurfaces. According to a CSA survey for Europe 1, CNews and JDD* 64% of French people believe that the fact that this strike is taking place during school holidays constitutes an abusive use of the right to strike. 35% surveyed believe the opposite, and 1% do not comment.
74% of those aged 50 and over think it is abuse
In detail, whether we analyze the results from the prism of gender, socio-professional situation or age, everyone mainly agrees with the idea of abusive use of the right to strike. All, except the 25-34 year old group. 49% agree, 49% do not, and 2% abstain… Those aged 50 and over are the hardest with the SNCF strikers since 74% think they are abusing the right to strike . A figure which drops to 51% among those under 35 (18-25 and 24-35 bracket combined). 66% of women are in favor of the majority opinion, while 63% of men are.
A left-right divide
To find a divide, you actually have to look at political opinions. On the left, only 41% of respondents see this new strike movement by controllers as an abusive use of the right to strike. More specifically, 33% of LFI supporters and 40% of Europe Ecologie – Les Verts voters. Only respondents close to the PS have an opinion that differs from other left-wing voters, with 53% “yes” against 45% “no” and 2% who do not comment.
On the right, it’s a completely different story. 74% of supporters think that this is indeed an abuse of the right to strike, a proportion which rises to 85% among the LR. National Rally voters are at the back of the procession, with 69%. A much lower figure than majority supporters, 84% of whom see this new social movement as an abuse of the right to strike.
*Self-administered online panel questionnaire carried out on February 15 and 16. Nationally representative sample of 1,000 people aged 18 and over. Quota method based on the criteria of sex, age and profession of the respondent after stratification by region and category of agglomeration. To ensure the representativeness of the results, the data were adjusted for the variables of sex, age, profession, region and urban category.