A strike on Christmas and New Year weekends is one of the worst scenarios for SNCF management and for users. It is however the threat of a strike at this precise moment that the railway workers use as a means of pressure. To avoid this catastrophic scenario, wage negotiations begin on Wednesday. “I say this for the future, for the two end-of-year weekends in particular, we must avoid this,” insisted the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, Wednesday afternoon.
But if a first increase had been granted following a strike in July, inflation has not slowed since, even reaching +6.2% in November over one year. So the unions come to the bargaining tables with a long list of demands.
Salary increase, 13th month, etc.
If the CGT-Cheminots asks for a salary increase at least equivalent to inflation and above all, retroactivity to January 1, 2022, the SUD-Rail trade unionists are asking for an additional 400 euros gross per month for all and the CFDT-Cheminots a 13th month in addition to salary increases. As for Unsa-Ferroviaire, the only union not calling for a strike, it wants to see wages increase by at least 5%.
“Be careful, if wages increase too much, ticket prices will eventually increase too. It’s a cost, the payroll, ”warned group CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou last Thursday. Cédric Robert, federal secretary of the CGT-Cheminots, hopes that, as of Wednesday, “very clear announcements on a general increase in wages and work bonuses” will be announced.
“There is a social dialogue at the SNCF which exists and works well”, reassured Clément Beaune, calling on everyone to work on a compromise because “the French would not understand in a period which is not easy, which follows two Christmases which have already been complicated by Covid-19, let us add complications to them ”.