Will there be trains at Christmas? “No one would accept that this is not the case,” said Transport Minister François Durovray on Sunday. France Inter. He believes that the dialogue must “succeed” between the leaders of the SNCF and the unions of the public company, who have called for an indefinite strike from December 11.
“Everyone must be responsible,” pleaded the minister, who “cannot imagine that at the moment when France must move forward, it will be blocked, and that at the moment when the French want to find themselves again, they will not cannot do it. »
“Unwelcome and incomprehensible” strike
The SNCF unions called on Saturday for an indefinite strike from Wednesday December 11, in particular to demand a moratorium against the dismantling of Fret SNCF.
The minister said he was ready to receive the unions again but stressed that dialogue in a company – even a public one – must “first be established between its leaders and the union organizations”.
Dismantling of SNCF Freight
Leader in rail freight transport in France, Fret SNCF will disappear on January 1 to be reborn as two separate companies, with 10% fewer employees: Hexafret, for freight transport, and Technis, for locomotive maintenance.
This is the culmination of a plan negotiated between the European Commission and the French State, suspected of having paid aid to Fret SNCF in violation of competition rules.
There were two options: either negotiate a “discontinuity plan” causing the Fret SNCF entity to disappear and allowing prosecution to be avoided; or take the risk of going to litigation and losing, with the obligation to repay 5 billion euros, which could have led to the liquidation of the company which employs 5,000 employees.
The minister indicated that “assurances” had been given “so that railway workers could remain in the company” and “that all journeys currently made by train remain on the train and do not go to the road”.
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