Coal bonus, remuneration, retirement… Beware of the approximations of this message on TGV drivers

Intoxicants die hard. Witness this long message, which has been circulating by email and on social networks for at least seventeen years. Entitled “the sad life of a TGV driver”, it lists a series of advantages from which TGV drivers would benefit: remuneration, bonuses, working hours, “job for life”, retirement age… also looks at the accounts of the SNCF. Social news, marked by the pension reform project, gives it new visibility*.

The salary advanced here is higher than what drivers got in 2007. – Facebook screenshot
The " bonus absence bonus " does not exist and lifetime employment no longer exists for new hires since 2020.
The ‘no bonus’ does not exist and lifetime employment does not exist for new hires since 2020. – Facebook screenshot

FAKE OFF

The hoaxkiller forum had already leaned on this message in 2006 and the SNCF had brought a denial complete in 2007.

At the time already, the figures on the accounts of the SNCF appearing in this message were not good. Revenues were almost twice as high in 2006 as shown in this message. The SNCF also specified that it does not receive “subsidies”, contrary to what is indicated in this message, the author of which is anonymous. The amount of the debt indicated on the message – 2 billion euros which would correspond to the cumulative debt of SNCF and Réseau ferré de France, which has since become SNCF Réseau – was lower than the actual amount.

The message was not just about the remuneration of a TGV driver either. In 2007, according to the SNCF, the salary of a TGV driver at the start of his career was 1,500 to 1,800 euros, including bonuses, and not 2,200 euros to 3,200 euros, as indicated in the misleading message. At the end of the career, this salary was between 3,000 and 3,400 euros, and not 4,880 euros. SNCF posted more recent data, covering the period 2012-2015: at the start of their career, a driver earns an average of 24,747 euros gross per year, or 2,062 euros gross per month. At the end of the career, this remuneration amounts to 44,119 euros gross, or 3,677 euros per month. This data aggregates the remuneration of all drivers, whether they work on TGV lines or other lines. The SNCF specifies to 20 minutes that the “level of remuneration of TGV drivers is highly variable, as it depends on experience, the number of overnight stays per month, seniority…”.

The coal bonus “no longer exists in reality since 1961”

As for the bonuses listed in the message, the presence of some is eccentric: the “no bonus bonus” does not exist. The coal bonus, which often comes up in the intox on railway workers “no longer exists in reality since 1961”, wrote the SNCF in 2016. A “work bonus” does exist. Its amount varies according to the trades.

On the other hand, a TGV driver is well subject to the 35 hours, like other railway workers. The Court of Auditors pointed out, however, in 2019 that a company agreement sets working time at 1,568 hours per year for rolling staff, which is slightly below the 1,607 hours per year for a 35-hour shift. This agreement takes into account the constraints of these professions (staggered hours, night work, etc.).

What about the retirement age? He would be 52 years old according to the viral message. This was possible if a driver had “25 years of service”, noted the SNCF in 2007. “Retiring earlier means that it is low”, nuanced the railway company. The retirement age gradually increased at SNCF between 2008 and 2017. Drivers left on average at 53.3 years old in 2017, and at 58 years old for the other categories, note the Court of Auditors.

Since 2007, several reforms have changed the conditions for retirement. Since 2020, new recruits at the SNCF no longer benefit from the status and the special pension fund. This reform also put an end to the “job for life” denounced by the viral message.

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