No Christmas miracle. SNCF forecasts will not be improved for this weekend, confirms this Friday morning Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs on France Inter. “I apologize from my company. We will not be able to transport all travelers this weekend. It’s a real pinch in the heart, ”he regretted on the air. The objective now: to obtain the lifting of strike notices for the next weekend.
During a meeting Thursday evening, the group’s management proposed “strong additional measures in favor of the recognition of the profession of skipper, the creation of positions, and the progression of their careers”, indicated the SNCF in a press release. With the objective that this agreement is ratified and can save the weekend of January 1st.
“We have proposed a draft agreement with the objective of recognizing the job of captain (controllers, editor’s note) with more listening, more jobs, more salary progression”, shelled Christophe Fanichet. In concrete terms, the specific bonus for skippers has been increased from 600 euros to 720 euros.
The unions have until Friday 12 noon to decide on this new agreement.
“We must maintain a framework for social dialogue”
“We put everything on the table, we gave everything, insists the general manager. The way out of the crisis can only be achieved through social dialogue. We brought together the four trade unions to prepare a draft agreement which better recognizes the status of the skippers,” assures Christophe Fanichet.
“The discussion is about next weekend. (…) It is not with the collective at the origin of the strike that the discussion is done but with the four trade union organizations”, estimated Clément Beaune, the Minister of Transport, on BFMTV.
“We have a hope” to save the New Year
“We must maintain a framework for social dialogue. I say this to the attention of the strikers, if we break the social dialogue we are preparing for very difficult times”.
“You have the image of the SNCF in your hands”, also launched the minister to the strikers. With the agreement on the table, “we have hope” of saving the New Year, according to Clément Beaune who refuses to “restrict” the right to strike. “There is no doubt that the anticipation systems need to be changed. That we do not discover the day before that we have a problem with the train, ”advances the minister.
As to whether reimbursements of up to 200% could be made permanent during strikes, at the RATP for example, Clément Beaune does not “think that the same thing should be done systematically”, he swept away, considering however that compensation should be improved in the event of problems.
Half of the controllers on strike
Almost half of the controllers are on strike this weekend, causing the cancellation of one train out of three on Friday, and two trains out of five on Saturday and Sunday, especially TGVs. Some axes will be more affected than others, such as the Atlantic axis or the North axis, with only one out of two TGVs.
However, this strike is atypical: it is led by an informal group of skippers organized on Facebook and rejecting any union membership.