SNCF controllers are on strike until Sunday 4 December. About 60% of TGV and Intercités, from Friday to Sunday, have been canceled. On Saturday, about four out of ten TGVs and Intercités are running, and passengers have been warned of cancellations for several days, said SNCF.
Controllers – officially called skippers – stop work for the whole weekend, with a « reprise progressive » envisaged on Monday, to demand better recognition of their status. “The management did not really see the anger that there was among the controllers and there, this weekend, it takes the measure”said SUD-Rail union representative, Fabien Villedieu, Saturday morning on RMC.
ℹ️ Social movement: train traffic will be severely disrupted from December 2 to 5 on TGV INOU trains… https://t.co/NJMN6bEic6
The unions, in support of the collective, have filed a strike notice for the Christmas and New Year weekends in order to put pressure on the SNCF which, according to the unionist, has “leeway” to make suggestions. « I can’t bring myself to have things written down”, reacted on Saturday, the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clement Beaune. The minister called for the “collective responsibility” to avoid end-of-year strikes. “Let’s work in the next few days to avoid this (…) I will do everything at my level. »
“New Encounters” next week
Beyond the questions of remuneration, there is, according to Mr. Villedieu, a question “improvement of working conditions” and of “consideration”with controllers that “feel mistreated” and who are “at the front in the trains”. According to him, the strike is followed by about 80%. The nearly 10,000 train supervisors at the SNCF, of whom nearly 3,000 work on the TGV and Intercités trains, have an essential function in terms of traffic and passenger safety. Without them, trains cannot run.
On Friday evening, management said that ” new encounters “ were “scheduled for next week, as part of the dialogue initiated for weeks with the trade unions on the subject of skippers”. For their part, the SUD-Rail and CFDT unions mentioned a “reopening of negotiations”announcing a “specific round table on Thursday, December 8”in a press release.
“It does not change the weekend strike”, however, specified the federal secretary of SUD-Rail, Erik Meyer. The unions (UNSA Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail, CFDT Cheminots and FO Cheminots) all lent their support to the movement, with the exception of the CGT Cheminots. “It’s a strike that we didn’t see coming, neither us nor the unions”recognized, Thursday, the CEO of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, during a conference organized by the magazine Challenges.
The collective of controllers had been received twice by the management – but without concrete progress – before carrying out its strike threat. After this weekend “temperature taking”SUD-Rail’s Fabien Villedieu hopes for concrete proposals during negotiations next week, saying “believe in social dialogue” especially as the holidays approach. This mobilization also occurs before the start of the mandatory annual negotiations, which must begin on Wednesday at the level of the SNCF group. The CGT, SUD-Rail and CFDT have called for a “united strike” That day.