“Very disturbed traffic” for the RER and metros, but eight out of ten buses in circulation on Tuesday. Would this last sector of the RATP then be less affected by the interprofessional strike notice? If the Parisian transport authority like the unions indicate that bus drivers tend to be less mobilized than their counterparts on the rail networks, – we all remember the completely crowded buses of December 2019 when a majority of metro lines were at a standstill, or traveling only in rush hour at idle – the trend has been more pronounced since the start of the strike against the pension reform version 2023. Already on January 31, traffic forecasts announced eight buses out of ten, and normal Noctilien traffic. On the RER and metro side, it’s a little better than last Tuesday, when five lines had to operate on only one portion.
The strike called in September by RATP bus drivers, which lasted until December, and from which resulted the majority agreement modifying the organization and working hours of bus and tram drivers, also seems to have weighed on the mobilization of these personnel. “And then, the opening of the bus network to competition will all lead to integration into a company under private law, so they are no longer fighting to maintain special regimes. They have already lost that battle, ”slips Jean-Christophe Delprat, Federal Secretary FO Transports.
The special diet is no longer an issue
Bus drivers led their own mobilization at the end of 2022, to denounce the opening of the bus network to competition from January 1, 2025, “as well as new working conditions imposed by management”, assures Jean-Christophe Delprat . They tapped into their wallets for several months, one to three days a week,” adds the Federal Secretary FO Transport. Not to mention the staff shortages, which therefore directly affected agents who were fighting for their salaries and their pensions: in September, the bus service in inner Paris and in the inner suburbs showed a rate of 25% of unavailable supply. carried out, i.e. one in four buses not running.
But the bright spot came on January 6 with the signing of an agreement, which the RATP also welcomes: “it’s a win-win agreement that allows bus drivers to earn more by working more hours, to a total of 372 euros gross per month”. And management put in the balance the NAO agreement, which also allowed all its employees to obtain a net monthly increase of 105 euros. By opening the wallet, Jean Castex therefore gives the impression of having calmed a particularly tense social climate and thus temporarily satisfied bus drivers, for whom the pension reform is now played out with private sector employees.