All SNCF unions called on railway workers on Monday to go on strike from December 11 at 7 p.m. The main reason is to demand a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNC, but also to protest against the terms of opening regional lines to competition.
All the railway group’s unions “call on the government to convene a tripartite negotiation meeting without delay if it wants to avoid a strike”, while a first day of mobilization organized on Thursday was moderately attended.
“The demand for a moratorium on the discontinuity process [de Fret SNCF] is more relevant than ever,” write the federations of the CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots in a joint press release.
“It is unthinkable and irresponsible to liquidate a major public player essential to the decarbonization of transport,” they deplore while Fret SNCF, French leader in rail freight transport, must disappear on January 1 in favor of two new subsidiaries, through a weight loss cure.
The 500 railway workers not retained – out of 5,000 – will all be reclassified in other companies in the group, SNCF promised.
But the unions want to believe that there is room for negotiation with the new European executive and in particular Teresa Ribera, commissioner in charge of ecological transition and competition.
The dismantling of Fret SNCF resulted from the opening of an investigation by the European Commission into illegal public aid and was negotiated by the French government in order to avoid prosecution.
The inter-union is also concerned about the transfer of 1,200 railway workers to subsidiaries of the group in December, where the regional train market (TER) has opened up to competition.
“It is a dogmatic choice assumed by the president [Jean-Pierre] Farandou aimed at preserving the margins of the SNCF to the detriment of the social gains of railway workers,” express the unions, who fear an overhaul of the rules governing the organization of working time.
Finally, they ask for a “multi-annual programming law” to finance the maintenance of the network and “develop the transport of goods and passengers”.
Last Thursday’s day of mobilization, presented as an “ultimatum” posed to the government and the management of the SNCF, was followed by only a quarter of the railway workers.
But this time the unions are threatening a renewable strike if no response is provided to their demands.
