A strike notice has been filed by five unions of metro and RER drivers on the Parisian network.
RATP agents put it back. After a social movement on October 18 which had especially altered bus traffic, the inter-union of drivers of the Régie (FO, CGT, Unsa, etc.) called for a strike on November 10. Their objective is clear: “Zero metro, zero RER”, they say on Monday. Even if this strike notice could be lifted if their demands are satisfied by then, the risk that there will be major disruptions in the metro and the RER on November 10 is very high. Indeed, management and unions met recently without reaching an agreement.
Concretely, the drivers’ representatives would like wage increases in line with inflation. They are not, however, the worst off: since the beginning of the year, they have obtained increases on average of 5.2% when consumer prices rose by 5.6% in September over one year. But they believe that this slight dropout partly explains the difficulty of the RATP in recruiting bus drivers. With, thus, a deterioration of the working conditions of the agents.
A message to Jean Castex
This strike is above all a message to the former Prime Minister Jean Castex, who should arrive at the head of the RATP in the coming weeks. The former CEO, Catherine Guillouard, subjected the group to a major reorganization to prepare it for opening up to competition. Today, each activity is organized into a “business unit” to know what it costs and what it brings in. In the Parisian bus activity, where its monopoly will end in 2025, the RATP has gone further. Management has imposed since this summer to work more (20 hours per year) to earn a little more (460 euros per year). This tensioning of the company weighs on the social climate.
To this must be added a trade union squabble which may explain the overbidding: after the winter strike of 2019-2020, regarding pensions, FO-RATP recovered many defectors from SUD-rail and the traction pole of Unsa . Between the CGT and FO, it is who will have the most maximalist positions. It remains to be seen whether the SNCF will join this movement.
SEE ALSO – Transport strike: “I have fifteen years of seniority at the RATP, I barely touch 2000 euros”