SNCF strike: will there be an unlimited strike from December 11th ?

SNCF STRIKE. After the November ultimatum, the inter-union threatens to hold a renewable strike every 24 hours starting December 11, 2024 to protest the dismantling of SNCF Freight.

The threat of a renewable strike on SNCF trainsà from Wednesday 11 December is moving away. On Thursday 21 November, the strike movement presented as an “ultimatum” before this date, if no response was given to the demands of the inter-union, was only slightly followed. According to the CGT union, only one in four railway workers was on strike that day. A figure that distances itself from the level of mobilization of the strikes of recent years. The disruptions on the rails were in fact concentrated only on regional trains, at a rate of one in two Intercités in circulation, 7 TERs out of 10 on average on a national scale and disruptions on the RER (in particular) and Transiliens in the Ile-de-France.

“The French don't want this Christmas strike, we understand them, and there is no reason, especially” declared Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, on RTL. The CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots have called for a major movement in response to confirmation of the dismantling of Fret SNCF on January 1st and to denounce the opening up to competition. “I am quite doubtful about this social movement, especially since there are no other possible hypotheses” than this dismantling, announced the Minister Delegate for Transport François Durovray.

If the unions denounce privatization and demand a moratorium, the management of the railway company contests the request since the railway group will retain the majority of the capital. “It is a privatization process in the broad sense,” explained Thierry Nier, the general secretary of the CGT-Cheminots. “The same process applied to Freight will apply to passengers tomorrow with the establishment of subsidiaries which suggest the same logic: lowering costs, social dumping and deterioration of working conditions”. If it does not obtain a halt to this process of subsidiary development, the inter-union is demanding guarantees in the organization of work for railway workers transferred to subsidiaries or competitors who have won the market.

The SNCF management assured for its part that the work to carry out this development began many years ago and that social negotiations have already advanced well. "The French would not understand a long and hard strike in December", confided on Sunday the CEO of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche. The inter-union met on Thursday evening, November 21, to discuss the continuation of the movement. You will be the first to be informed on this page.