Due to a strike by SNCF controllers, major disruptions are to be expected on the TGV and Intercités trains during this weekend from December 2 to 4.
SourceAFP
© MAGALI COHEN / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
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Wcomplicated weekend in perspective in French stations. A strike launched by a collective of controllers forced the French national railway company (SNCF) to cancel 60% of its high-speed trains (TGV) and Intercités from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 December. A social movement that raises fears of new disruptions during the end of year celebrations.
The controllers – also called train managers at the SNCF – decided to stop work for the whole weekend to demand better recognition of their status. “In total, more than 80% of us are on strike and more than 90% on the TGV, it’s unheard of,” assured Agence France-Presse (AFP) Nicolas Limon, member of the Collective national ASCT (CNA), launched in September on Facebook outside of any union framework and which today has nearly 3,000 members.
The unions (Unsa-Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail, CFDT-Cheminots and FO-Cheminots) have all since supported the movement, with the exception of the CGT-Cheminots.
Captain, a key position within the SNCF
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. The weekend therefore promises to be extremely disrupted and a “gradual recovery” is envisaged on Monday December 5, with 3 out of 4 trains on all TGV axes. The Atlantic axis is particularly affected, with only 1 out of 4 TGVs, as for the Ouigos.
“The management has not taken the measure of the discontent”, assured AFP Rénald Szpitalnik, elected SUD-Rail and controller in the TGV Paris-Milan. The collective was received twice by the management, but without concrete progress, before carrying out its strike threat. “It’s a strike that we didn’t see coming, neither us nor the unions”, recognized Thursday the boss director-general (CEO) of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, during a conference organized by the magazine Challenges. “We were a little surprised by this move,” he admitted.
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New strike on December 7
“We are not considered to be traveling personnel when we work three weekends a month and do not sleep at home ten evenings in the month”, explains Nicolas Limon. With the CNA, he calls for the integration of various bonuses to the base salary so that they are taken into account in the calculation of the pension. These bonuses are indexed to activity and are therefore not paid in the event of sick leave or during holidays, also denounces the railway worker, who is one of the six controllers at the origin of the creation of the collective.
The management of SNCF Voyageurs says it has proposed “an increase in the work bonus of 600 euros per year for all on-board managers”, a “partial” integration of this “in the fixed salary in 2024”, “acceleration the progression of remuneration” and “the transition to two skippers per train for all TGV Inoui within three years”. Proposals that did not calm the mobilization. “We are not revolutionaries, but we need something concrete,” assures Nicolas Limon.
The collective has filed a strike notice for the Christmas and New Year weekends in order to put pressure on the SNCF, but “we will do our best to ensure that there is no strike at Christmas”, has promised Nicolas Limon.
This mobilization comes on the eve of the start of the mandatory annual negotiations (NAO), which must begin on Wednesday, December 7 at the level of the SNCF group. The CGT, SUD-Rail and CFDT called for a “united strike” that day. After this date, negotiations between skippers and management should resume and “between December 8 and 22, we will have 15 days to re-engage in a dialogue” and reach an agreement, said Nicolas Limon hoped.
Jean-Pierre Farandou said for his part that he hoped to be able to “find a balance between […] ticket prices on the one hand, increase in railway workers on the other, having resources to innovate and to invest…”
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