As the end of the year holidays approach, the showdown continues. On Wednesday December 15, the management of the SNCF announced the failure of negotiations with the unions which called for a strike to kick off the Christmas holidays. She said “regret[r] that the negotiations carried out for several days (…) have not made it possible to avoid the social movement at this stage “ and “stay tuned”, she indicated, assuring to have “responded positively to the requests formulated by the trade unions”, Who “choose to maintain” of their strike notice.
The unions demand the improvement of working conditions, hiring to compensate for insufficient staff, wage increases or even “a Covid bonus”. “We are going to enter our eighth year of wage freeze”, protested Tuesday on BFMTV Fabien Villedieu, SUD-Rail manager. “The ball today is in the management’s court”, Who “still has the possibility of hearing this anger”, he estimated.
Management provides exceptional compensation for users who will see their train canceled. They will be able to be reimbursed for 100% of the price of the ticket and will have a voucher for 100% of the price of the ticket, i.e. a reimbursement of 200%.
On the South-East axis
One in two TGV Sud-Est will run on Friday. The traffic forecasts for Saturday and Sunday, the two other days covered by this strike notice, will be published later, when the number of strikers is known.
Monday, tkings unions of the railway company had called for a strike on this axis. The railway Ansa announced for its part on Wednesday evening to AFP that it had decided to “to come out of the strike” on this axis, after having received the “statement of the conclusions of the negotiations” where she has “obtained satisfaction”. “We were waiting for this written record” to lift the call to strike, said its secretary general, Didier Mathis. But the withdrawal of this union from the conflict is “too late” to impact traffic on Friday, he explained.
On the TGV Atlantique
On the TGV Atlantique, also affected by a strike notice, traffic will be “almost normal” Friday, according to Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, who however did not specify the number of trains in circulation.
On the South-West axis
The controllers and stopover agents (at the station) of the TGV Sud-Ouest are called to strike from Friday to Sunday by the CGT-Cheminots, SUD-Rail, Unsa-rail and FO-Cheminots, it was indicated on Tuesday.
In Ile-de-France
In the Paris region, where notices are submitted for Thursday and Friday, traffic will be disrupted on around ten lines, in particular the RER B, C, D and E. “No negotiations or proposals were made, the management preferred to sacrifice the users”, protests SUD-Rail in its press release.
At midday, the management had said “regret that the negotiations carried out for several days” with the SUD-Rail, CGT-Cheminots and Unsa-railway unions “did not make it possible to avoid the social movement at this stage”, while indicating that she remained “listening”.
On the other axes
This conflict arises during a week riddled with calls to strike at the SNCF. This week is already enamelled with social movements: Monday, December 13 on the TGV Nord, in Normandy and on the H line in the Paris region, Monday and Tuesday on the TER of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Tuesday in the Pays de la Loire …
The strike also won over the catering on board trains, entrusted to the company Newrest, whose employees are called upon to disengage “from Thursday” by the CGT and SUD-Rail, in particular to obtain wage increases.