“The trains will run at Christmas”, assures the resigning Minister of Transport

SNCF users were expecting a dark December, but the horizon seems to be brightening on French rail. Invited to the microphone of Sud Radio this Thursday, December 12, the resigning Minister of Transport François Durovray assured that “the trains will run at Christmas.” “There is a social movement which is underway today but which will have very little impact with normal traffic on the main lines”added the minister questioned by Jean-Jacques Bourdin.

At the end of November, all SNCF union organizations called for a renewable strike starting Wednesday, December 11 at 7 p.m. “We spoke with the unions to explain our policy on freight but also to initiate social dialogue”detailed François Durovray. Since then, two of the four structures involved, Unsa and CFDT, have withdrawn their appeal after an agreement with the management of the railway group, while the CGT-Cheminots and Sud Rail have maintained it.

This call for renewable mobilization responds to two union demands. On the one hand, a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF, whose 4,500 employees must be transferred on January 1 to two new companies, Hexafret and Technis. On the other hand, the inter-union wishes to interrupt the spin-off of SNCF Voyageurs caused by the opening to competition of regional lines (TER, Intercités, Transiliens). As with freight, railway workers must be transferred in the coming weeks to the companies which win the tenders, whether SNCF subsidiaries or competing operators.