Should we regulate and limit the right to strike? “The hatred of the railway worker cannot justify everything”

A mobilization of railway workers is planned for this Thursday against the dismantling of Fret SNCF and the opening to competition of regional lines. A first round before an unlimited strike notice from December 11, with fears of a blockage for Christmas. Faced with this threat, the right is calling on the government to take up a Senate bill aimed at limiting and regulating the right to strike. A proposal that revolts Fabien Villedieu (Sud-Rail), on RMC.

Calls for strikes are back this week at the SNCF. The railway unions have decided to call for mobilization this Thursday, November 21. Notice was given, as was for several days from December 11.

Unions which oppose the dismantling of Fret SNCF. In La Tribune Dimanche, the boss of the railway company Jean-Pierre Farandou “appeals to the railway workers' sense of responsibility”, believing that “the strike is avoidable” and that it is necessary to go through negotiations rather than strikes to avoid to ruin Christmas for users with strikes.

And at the same time, the right is pushing for the right to strike at the SNCF to now be regulated and limited. Give the government the freedom to prevent a railway strike for up to 30 days a year, at Christmas or during long weekends for example. A bill that already exists. It was passed by the Senate last spring, but has been missing since the dissolution of the Assembly. The executive must take it back, argues the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, on Public Senate.

“I tabled, when I was president of the LR group in the Senate, a text which prohibited untimely strikes during peak hours. I think we deserve to see that happen. The railway workers regularly take the French hostage who work. This is what I call greviculture,” he laments.

Words that revolt Fabien Villedieu, federal secretary of Sud-Rail. “I want to say that I am not a hostage taker. It is unbearable in a world where there is terrorism, where there are people who are being taken hostage today. This word is truly unbearable The right to strike is a constitutional right So if we are told that exercising a constitutional right, which is already regulated with notice five days in advance and a social alarm 15 days in advance, is like being a hostage taker. must stop. Hatred of the railway worker cannot justify everything”, he denounced this Monday morning on RMC.

Ministers opposed to regulating the right to strike in transport

Bruno Retailleau's position is not unanimous in the government. The right to strike is not regulated, responds for example Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister of Public Accounts, on LCI. “I believe in social dialogue and I believe that we can always reach an outcome without having to go back on a constitutional right which is the right to strike. So I think we should not do it,” he says.

And the Minister of Transport François Durovray, first concerned, is also against. “Regulating the right to strike in transport is not relevant,” his entourage tells RMC. A way to avoid rushing the unions, while the fear of a strike for Christmas still looms.