The last chance meeting before the strike? The representative unions of the SNCF were to be received Thursday at 6 p.m. by the CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou in order to find a solution to the strike of the controllers the last two weekends of December.
CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots are invited as the government put pressure on SNCF management to find a solution before the New Year weekend, too threatened with strike notice. Jean-Pierre Farandou had originally planned to receive the unions on Friday morning.
The public group is facing a massive strike by its captains (official name of the controllers), half of whom should stop work this weekend, causing the cancellation of many TGVs.
The unions carry the demands of a collective of controllers
They are gathered in a collective of more than 3,500 members rejecting any link with the unions but who relied on the latter to carry their demands.
The unions and management have been negotiating since early November to find a solution to the conflict, without success. A first strike on the first weekend of December had already greatly disrupted traffic, especially TGVs.
The collective, which detailed its demands on a Facebook page, could not be reached on Thursday. The page in question was no longer visible on the social network.
The management claims to have “given everything” to avoid the strike
“We gave everything to avoid the strike,” recalled Thursday morning Jean-Pierre Farandou, deploring the turn of events and a hardline social movement beyond the control of the trade unions.
No union is calling for a strike, but the CGT, SUD and CFDT have maintained their notice, which gives the controllers the framework to stop work.
Only Unsa-Ferroviaire officially disapproved of the movement and withdrew its strike notice.