The next few weeks look set to be difficult for SNCF passengers. Following a meeting on 28 October with Transport Minister François Durovray and then with SNCF management, the railway company's unions have issued two strike warnings. The first, a one-dayis scheduled from Wednesday 20 November 7pm to Friday 22 November 8am. This day of action is seen as a warm-up to get the government and SNCF management to give in and start new negotiations before launching a second, unlimited and renewable strike, from 11 December.
Unions oppose Fret SNCF split
The CGT Cheminots, Unsa Ferroviaire, SUD Rail and CFDT Cheminots federations are opposed to the current projects, which are considered to be " creeping privatisation "This is the second act of the group's 2018 rail counter-reform. Firstly, they are calling for a halt to the demerger of Fret SNCF which is due to take effect from 1er On 1 January 2025, two new companies will be created, Hexafret for freight transport and Technis for locomotive maintenance, with a 10% reduction in the workforce. This reorganisation follows an agreement between the French State and the European Union concerning the financial aid granted to the carrier, the penalties for which would amount to five billion euros if the demerger were not implemented.
No to the consequences of opening up to competition
The unions then reject the conditions for opening up to competition in the railway denouncing " privatisation of TER, Transilien and Intercités services" The group is currently creating subsidiaries and transferring staff from SNCF Voyageurs from mid-December to respond to various calls for tender in the regions. They believe that this is a " a strategy of social dumping within the Group, with the result that social rules will be fragmented in the many small and medium-sized rail companies that management intends to create for each batch opened up to competition" .
On its website, the CGT Cheminots is calling for " a halt to the Fret SNCF discontinuance process and a moratorium" , " a halt to the process of spinning off TER, Transilien and Intercités" and "a multiannual programming law to modernise the rail system" . The Transport Minister said that he was prepared to meet the unions again to find common ground, while reminding them that it was up to SNCF management to conduct negotiations with the unions.
