FOCUS – Commercial agents are demanding a 10% increase in their salaries, while the SNCF “has already increased their salaries by 12% in two years”.
It is a strike that arouses the indignation of thousands of French people. According to SNCF estimates, one in four travelers – or 200,000 people – is impacted by the social movement launched by the captains, united in a collective. The latter take over from the signalmen, stopping work from Thursday 22 to Monday 26 December, during the Christmas weekend. While many travelers wish to reunite with their families, some therefore find themselves without alternatives. But where does this movement come from? What are the strikers demanding? And why is their remuneration controversial? Le Figaro make the point.
At the heart of the mobilization, the strikers consider themselves poorly paid overall. “A controller’s payslip shows a fixed part (the salary) and a work part (the bonus). For a controller with 22 years of seniority, his fixed salary is equivalent to 1864.19 euros gross per month, supplemented by a bonus of 425 euros gross“, specifies Delphine Ledieu, federal secretary of the UNSA-ferroviaire.
Read alsoSNCF: this collective of controllers which threatens the TGVs at Christmas
If they underline their low remuneration compared to their colleagues of the SNCF, the data of the company qualify this judgment. By comparing the salaries of controllers to those of other SNCF agents, they are on the average. According to management, between 2012 and 2015, a mid-career skipper received 28,816 euros gross per year, excluding bonuses. Or 2400 euros gross per month. An amount which amounts to 30,966 euros gross per year for a local manager and 34,751 euros for a train driver.
Bonuses are added to this figure. For the 9,000 French controllers, their amount fluctuates each month, directly inflating their purchasing power. The calculation depends on the hours worked by the controller, but the SNCF estimates it at around 25% over the period 2012-2015, or around 600 euros per month. If he holds his position at night, on Sundays or on public holidays, his bonus will be increased. Conversely, if he takes leave or if he is on sick leave, he will not receive his supplement. It should be noted that these premiums are not taken into account in the calculation of pension contributions.
Salary increase of 12% in two years
In addition, if they accuse the company of not listening to their demands, the SNCF defends itself and recalls that it has put its hand in its pocket by increasing salaries by 12% in two years for all its employees. “The train managers will, like all SNCF employees, benefit from the progress resulting from the annual group-wide negotiations with an average salary increase of 5.7% in 2022 and 5.9% in 2023. These increases are therefore [presque] at the level of inflation for two consecutive years“, underlines the railway company.
In detail, the salary increase of 5.9% in 2023 is made up of “2% general increase, an increase in the work bonus of 600 euros and a 2% increase in individual measures“. Added to this is “a 4% increase in night, Sunday and public holiday allowances et «a 2% increase in other production allowances“. In other words, an agent who works on staggered schedules will be particularly rewarded. For the captains, the SNCF also integrates “partially the work premium at the fixed salary in 2024, which guarantees greater stability of the monthly remuneration“. At last, “a specific allowance of 600 euros per year will be granted in addition to the skippers».
SEE ALSO – Strike at the SNCF: will there be trains at Christmas?
A collective reminiscent of that of the yellow vests
Despite these substantial efforts, the strikers are still demanding a larger general wage increase, “up to 10% for 2023“. They also askan increase in their telework allowance» et «payment by the employer of their meal vouchers“. Behind these demands and the strike movement, is the national collective of flight attendants, the ASCT. It has no defined representative and is not affiliated with any trade union. It still needed the help of the CGT-Cheminots and Sud-Rail for the ASCT to take advantage of the strike notice of the next few days.
«The functioning of the collective is reminiscent of that of the yellow vestsmentions Arnaud Ayré, an economist specializing in transport. There is food and drink in their claims“, which the company will find difficult to answer, judges the expert. There “SNCF is lost in the face of this movementand preferred to put out the fire quickly by granting several upgrades, he adds.
The internal problems at the SNCF have been raised for a long time. For the Court of Auditors, thus, the company grants “an overly automatic increase in wages“. In a 2019 report, the institution also pointed to poor organization of planning, which undermines the productivity of agents: for example, in the Pays de la Loire, traffic “is organized around two peaks, one in the morning, the other in the evening, with very low traffic at other times. Drivers and controllers as well as rolling stock are therefore little used for a large part of the day. This leads to paying staff for a very low effective working time“, wrote the magistrates. An assertion that trade unionists reject, for whom “more and more responsibilitiesweigh on the flight attendants. “We feel wronged and not recognized“, regrets Delphine Ledieu.
SEE ALSO – SNCF: “At Christmas, we don’t go on strike”, annoys Olivier Véran