François Durovray, the Minister for Transport, unveiled on Thursday November 21 a new timetable for salary negotiations for SNCF railway workers. A decision taken in consultation with the CEO of the railway company and which should relieve the French.
If a day of mobilization is held on Thursday, November 21 at the SNCF, the railway unions have threatened a larger and more widespread strike for the holidays. This is not the first time that the employees of the railway company, whose demands are numerous, are considering striking at this critical time of the year, causing great concern among the French, who are afraid of not finding train ride for Christmas. In order to prevent this from happening every year, François Durovray, Minister for Transport, may have found a solution: that salary negotiations for the SNCF be held at the start of the year.
After discussing with Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, François Durovray decided to set up “a measure that is very simple” : “Salary negotiations will now take place at the start of the year, in January, and no longer at Christmas”he explained on RMC Thursday morning. “We no longer want to live under the threat of a strike”he insisted. “Everyone needs to be responsible.”
Furthermore, the Minister for Transport expressed his incomprehension regarding the modus operandi that has been established in recent years: namely threatening a strike before salary negotiations have even started. “We do not understand why the principle of the strike is fixed before social dialogue”he also declared on RMC.
Salaries at SNCF: towards an increase of 2.2%?
The demands of the railway workers' unions for the current social movement do not only concern salaries, which the SNCF proposes to increase by 2.2% (i.e. an increase greater than inflation at 1.5%). The strikers are protesting against the liquidation of SNCF Freight, the privatization of TER, Transilien and Intercités activities, as well as the breakup of SNCF Réseau.
published on November 21 at 10:52 a.m., Maeliss Innocenti, 6Medias
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