Significant disruptions are expected from Friday to Sunday at the SNCF due to the controllers’ strike movement. Other demands within the public sector are likely to emerge as the Olympic Games approach.
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SNCF traffic will therefore be very disrupted during the weekend of February 17 and 18, a strike by controllers which particularly worries the government. Beyond this weekend where TGV traffic promises to be chaotic in the middle of school holidays, the executive has a question in mind: is this controllers’ strike a simple warning shot, limited to the SNCF? Or the kickoff of an end to winter and a social spring?
In the absence of snow on the ski slopes, the government fears an avalanche of social movements. Against a backdrop of tensions on purchasing power and increased wage demands. A fear fueled by the prospect of the Olympics. So no, the strike is not a new Olympic event on the Paris 2024 program… But this global meeting could fuel other demands within the public sector. Particularly in transport. Remember that at the RATP, the CGT, rather far-sighted, filed a strike notice which began on February 5 and runs until… September 7. A threat that allows agents to cover themselves if they stop working.
The fear of seeing these movements spread
Another movement threatens to restart, that of farmers. They are putting the pressure back on as the Agricultural Show approaches. The government fears that their anger will take hold. They have already achieved a lot and are demanding that the commitments made come to fruition more quickly. The executive
has no choice but to coax them. Emmanuel Macron began to receive the agricultural unions on Wednesday, Gabriel Attal has not left them for weeks. This preferential treatment could well open up appetites for demands within other corporations. Hence Gabriel Attal’s reaction on Wednesday about the strike at the SNCF. “The strike is a right” but “working is a duty” attacked the Prime Minister, wanting to be the spokesperson for “French”.
A classic rhetorical process to make the voice of “common sense” heard, to use an expression dear to Emmanuel Macron. Gabriel Attal deplored “a form of habit” according to which “with every vacation that comes”There is “the announcement of a strike” at the SNCF. Indulgent, very lenient with farmers, the Prime Minister is not so with railway workers. With the calculation that, if the peasant movement remains very popular, the blocking of trains angers public opinion. Not sure, however, that it strengthens the popularity of the executive.
