On Franceinfo, Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, supports the strike movements announced in air and rail transport.
Will there be transport at Christmas? On Franceinfo, Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, raises the threat of social movements in the SNCF, but also in air transport. The pressure on the government is based on the end-of-year holiday period and the consequences on the tourism sector.
“Employees are organizing to defend their rights. We must continue. There is no question of us paying a debt in which we have nothing to do,” declared Sophie Binet.
SNCF, airlines, farmers: strike alert – 11/11
“We are trampling on the rights of employees”
At the SNCF, SNCF unions called for a strike Thursday, November 21 to denounce the dismantling of Fret SNCF and the opening to competition. This movement will extend from Wednesday November 20 at 7 p.m. to Friday November 22 at 8 a.m. But the strike could go further.
The CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots have already warned that this day of strike is only “an ultimatum” before “a longer and stronger strike movement in December” .
They called for a strike from Wednesday December 11 to demand a moratorium against the announced dismantling of Fret SNCF and to protest against the terms of opening regional lines to competition. In a joint press release, the three unions explain that the strike will be unlimited and renewable for periods of 24 hours starting on Wednesday, December 11 at 7 p.m.
“There are enough of us trampling on the rights of employees,” maintains Sophie Binet.
On the air transport side, the vote by the deputies for an increase in taxation on air transport raised a wave of protest which led to the national union of airline pilots (SNPL) to call for a strike November 14th.
“Victory is not complete”
In a joint press release sent late Sunday, several other unions in the sector – Unsa Transport, Unsa PNC, CFE-CGC FNEMA, Unac, SNPNC-FO and FEETS-FO – announced that they called on “all employees in the airline sector to come and demonstrate their disagreement with this tax that is deadly for jobs before the National Assembly on November 14.”
“Mobilization pays off,” says the general secretary of the CGT, taking the increase in pensions as an example.
Monday, on TF1, Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Republican Right group (ex-LR) in the Assembly, assured that he had found a compromise with the government so that “all pensions” would be increased by “half the inflation” from January 1, with a second catch-up for the smallest six months later.
For Sophie Binet, “this is good news, but the victory is not total”. “This reinforces the call to action on December 3.”
