management proposes “additional measures” for controllers

The SNCF makes a gesture for the controllers, by offering 10 euros more per month, or a bonus of 60 euros per month to the captains. The collective of strikers expects him 250 euros. “We are quite far from the mark” admits a trade unionist present at the meeting on Thursday evening.

But the management weighs two other measures that it considers “strong”: 200 more job creations next year, a unique status and therefore better recognition of the profession of skipper according to it.

The strikers did not wish to react Thursday evening to these proposals. This agreement, the unions have until noon to sign it or not… and therefore end the strike.

But, for this Christmas weekend, it’s already too late… The trains will remain cancelled. Management hopes for the signing of an agreement and the return to normal for the New Year weekend.

(MO)

Disruptions planned for this Friday, December 23, 2022:

– 2 out of 3 TGVs in circulation

– 3 Ouigo out of 4 in circulation

– 1 TER out of 2 in circulation

This weekend, the situation is deteriorating slightly, with 3 TGV out of 5, 2 Ouigo out of 3 and 3 Intercités out of 4 in circulation. TERs will be locally disrupted.

Another strike notice runs over the New Year weekend, from Friday December 30, 2022 to Monday January 2, 2023, the last day of school holidays included. For the moment, the disturbances are not announced.

The management of the SNCF proposed Thursday evening “additional measures” for the controllers in order to prevent their strike from being prolonged into the New Year, indicated the management of the group and a union source.

The unions have until 12 p.m. Friday to decide on a “draft agreement” which proposes “strong additional measures in favor of the recognition of the profession of skipper, the creation of positions, and the progression of their careers,” SNCF said in a statement.

The management of the SNCF had brought together Thursday evening by videoconference the unions of the public group, while nearly half of the controllers will be on strike this Christmas weekend, causing the cancellation of many trains from Thursday evening.

The new proposals include the creation of an “ASCT business line” (head of the board), which brings together all the controllers under the same hat, according to a union source. 160 additional jobs should be created from 2023, and 40 more jobs “in sensitive trains”. The specific premium for controllers would also increase from 600 to 720 euros gross annually.

A day of strike costs the SNCF 20 million euros on average.

Additional costs are related to ticket refunds and compensation. On the other hand, the expenses of electricity, fuel and the wages of the strikers fall.

This time around, that strike could cost a lot more. Indeed, the SNCF has decided to go all out on compensation.

Explanations of these costs here.

Faced with the strike of SNCF controllers organized by a non-union collective, Emmanuel Macron asked this Thursday morning in the Council of Ministers to find solutions to maintain access to public service. “The President of the Republic mentioned the need for the future to take into account this new type of strike movement which escapes social dialogue and which has a severe impact on the permanence of access to a public service, indicates Olivier Véran, the door – speech of the government. The President of the Republic invited the Prime Minister and the government to reflect on the establishment of a framework to ensure the continuity of public services in all circumstances.”

Olivier Véran, government spokesman, calls on the SNCF strikers on Thursday to give up their movement for Christmas. “We ask all those who have announced that they want to strike to renounce this strike and to hear the legitimate request of the French people to be able to find their families in good conditions. The whole of the government is totally mobilized, to first of all to accentuate social dialogue at the SNCF. But we would like to remind you that in the recent past we have completely erased the debt of the SNCF and that substantial salary increases have already been announced and implemented for some of them We are also mobilized to identify all the effective solutions so that travelers deprived of their train can still join their families.”

More information here.

Agnès Verdier-Molinié, director of iFRAP, an ultra-liberal think tank (think tank) which is interested in public policy, believes that this strike will waste millions of euros.

“It’s around twenty million euros a day for the SNCF but also for the French economy around 200 to 300 million that are lost and we don’t have the means”, she estimates.

“The strike is not controlled. Is it normal to reimburse 200%? I find it ridiculous insofar as the reimbursement in cash will be 100% and then it will be vouchers SNCF purchase”, she adds.

According to her, given the expenses made by the community to finance the SNCF, the service should be better. “It costs us very, very dearly, 18 billion euros each year. Just for the subsidy to balance the pensions of SNCF agents, which is not at all balanced, it is 3.3 billion. We should have a quality public service with the billions we put in every year.”

Agnès Verdier-Molinié considers that the management’s proposals are satisfactory. She would like that “we draw inspiration from other countries where there is a right to strike, but with a framework”.

The president of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou appealed this Thursday to “the responsibility of the TGV board managers” so that they do not maintain their strike movement over the New Year weekend.

“For this weekend, it’s unfortunately too late (…) but there is no reason to punish the French twice,” he insisted on RTL, referring to the last weekend. of the year. “I don’t understand this strike. There is no strike call from any union,” he added, adding that he would receive the unions on Friday to try to find a way out of the crisis.

“I have more than 40 years of house, I’ve seen strikes, but I haven’t seen many on the day of departures like that,” said the boss of the public group. “It’s still very unique.”

To compensate passengers, SNCF announced a 200% refund for all users whose train is cancelled, whether they have exchanged their ticket or canceled their trip. Either a voucher for twice the value of their ticket.

>> All the details on this refund

>> SNCF strike: “No one has been increased by 12%”, a trade unionist denounces the words of Olivier Véran

Olivier Véran, spokesperson for the government, deplored the strike by SNCF controllers for this Christmas weekend, stating in particular that they had received a salary increase “of 12%” in “a little less than two year”.

Figures “completely fanciful” according to Axel Persson, secretary general CGT Cheminots de Trappes. “This is not what is reflected on our payslip, he assures in ‘Apolline Matin’ this Thursday on RMC and RMC Story. It is a well-known technique on the part of the government, which knows that these figures are completely fanciful. No one has been increased by 12%, except perhaps in the management of the company. But no railway worker, driver, controller, or those at the counters who sell tickets, was increased by 12%. These statements are made to irritate. I believe that the government knows this very well. It is part of its strategy to seek a showdown, to stretch positions to the end, to hope for a victory by KO. For the moment, the strikers do not kneel down.

Emmanuel Macron ranted and asked his ministers to do their utmost on the SNCF strike.

Since then, the ministers have increased pressure on the SNCF and the strikers.

“What we expect from the management of the SNCF today is that it finds a solution in the next few hours, I say in the next few hours. That is the responsibility of the management of the SNCF, it has the support of the state, it must find the ways and means to get out of this conflict”, declared Bruno Le Maire on Sud Radio.

“This undermines the right to strike”

Going on strike at Christmas is “incomprehensible and unjustifiable”, regretted the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune.

For his part, Christophe Béchu, Minister of Territorial Cohesion, rose up on the set of France 2 Thursday evening. “I think that deciding to strike on December 24 and 25 undermines the right to strike. After the years we have known, there is this need to find each other. (…) 200,000 French people who do not won’t be able to take their train to spend Christmas with their loved ones, it’s not worthy.”

On Wednesday evening, the SNCF announced a slightly degraded transport plan for Saturday and Sunday compared to the initial forecasts with two out of five TGVs removed – instead of one out of three initially.

Two out of three TGVs should run on the Atlantic and Mediterranean axes, one in two trains on the North axis (the Paris-Lille is announced to be almost normal).

Three out of five trains should run on the East and South-East/Mediterranean axes. Only two Ouigo out of three will circulate.

3 out of 4 trains for the Intercités

TGVs between provincial stations will be greatly affected with only one in two trains. The Intercités will run at a frequency of three out of four trains.

There will only be one out of two trains to Spain, two out of three to Italy and three out of four on the Lyria (between France and Switzerland).

A group of controllers launched a strike at the SNCF. For this Christmas weekend, two out of five TGVs are cancelled. According to the company, 200,000 travelers will be deprived of the train to reach their loved ones.

Controllers and management have been negotiating for a month but they have not yet reached an agreement.

The controllers are asking for salary increases. Management has proposed a 2% increase over the year 2023 to all employees, with a bonus of €600 gross per year. For these controllers only, the SNCF is offering an increase in their captain’s bonus of €600.

1/4 of the remuneration does not count for retirement

These amounts are too low for the group of controllers. “That’s €38 net per month, it’s not up to par,” they say in the ranks of the strikers.

Another point of tension: the bonuses received by the controllers.

A quarter of the remuneration received by controllers is received in the form of a bonus. This is for example the case of the Sunday bonus, the travel bonus, and many others. Except that in the event of sick leave or retirement, these premiums are not taken into account.

The collective therefore asks the management to integrate these bonuses into the salary as for train drivers.

More information here.