The government is stepping up. Expressing his “angry for customers deprived of Christmas holidays”the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, demanded, Thursday, December 22 on Sud Radio, from the management of the SNCF that it resolve “in the next few hours” the controllers’ strike which led to the cancellation of many TGVs during the Christmas weekend, 23, 24 and 25 December:
“What we expect from the management of the SNCF today is that it finds a solution in the next few hours, I mean in the next few hours. That is the responsibility of the management of the SNCF, it has the support of the State, it must find the ways and means to get out of this conflict. »
Other ministers took turns in the media early this morning, castigating this strike, and calling for ” the responsibility ” strikers. “It’s not worthy” and that “damages the right to strike”protested on France 2 the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Béchu:
“I think that deciding to strike on December 24 and 25 undermines the right to strike. After the years that we have known, there is this need to find each other. (…) 200,000 French people who will not be able to take their train to spend Christmas with their loved ones, it is not worthy”
“You have a responsibility”
“Working at the SNCF is not like working just anywhere. You have a responsibility” vis-à-vis the public, underlined the minister, indicating that the president of the SNCF “will announce new initiatives in the morning” without giving more details. And regret:
“It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone. We have at the same time French people who will be deprived of trains, a movement which is not good for the image of the company, but which is also not good for the strikers nor for the demands they are carrying. ».
While 2 out of 5 TGVs should be canceled this weekend, according to SNCF forecasts, the minister believes that the issue, “it’s now to make sure that we don’t end up with the same scenario next week” for New Years weekend.
The strike movement was launched by a collective of controllers outside of any trade union framework. This collective relied on the unions to bring its demands and file notices but failed to reach an agreement with management. The unions then maintained their notice – except Unsa-Ferroviaire – while not calling for a strike.
A strike valued at a “hundred million euros”
The Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, for his part affirmed on Franceinfo that the strike by SNCF controllers would cost “probably a hundred million euros to the company” public, calling for the resumption of discussions.
“Fortunately, there are tens of thousands of railway workers (…) who see that it is bad for the company. It will probably cost the company a hundred million euros, we don’t need that at the moment and so everyone has to resume this discussion. »
Mr. Beaune however brushed aside the idea of a possible requisition of SNCF personnel. “We must not sell illusions”the requisitions being “legally and even constitutionally framed”he said.c “The only way not to penalize the French (…) is social dialogue”insisted the Minister of Transport.
Farandou hoping for New Year’s weekend deal
Since November, the SNCF has been struggling to establish dialogue with the collective of controllers at the origin of this social movement. They demand better recognition of the specificity of their profession and reject any acquaintance with the unions, even if they had to rely on the latter to file notices.
Management has already proposed to increase the “work allowance” captains (official name of the controllers) of 600 euros per year, part of which will be integrated into the salary in 2024, as well as an additional allowance of 600 euros gross per year. Proposals that the strikers considered insufficient.
For his part, the president of SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou also called for “the responsibility of the TGV board captains” so that they do not maintain their strike movement on New Year’s weekend. “For this weekend, it is unfortunately too late (…) but there is no reason to punish the French twice”he insisted on RTL, referring to the last weekend of the year.
“I don’t understand this strike. There is no strike call from any union.he added, specifying that he would receive them on Friday to try to find a way out of the crisis. “I have more than 40 years of house, I have seen strikes, but I have not seen many on the day of departures like that”concluded the boss of the public group: “It’s still very unique”. Finally, he recalled the offer of a voucher equivalent to twice the ticket for each passenger whose train has been cancelled, a “first” in France.