Most local sections of SUD-Rail and CGT-Cheminots are calling for a strike on May 21 in Ile-de-France to influence negotiations around railway workers’ bonuses during the Olympic Games, the unions announced Thursday May 2 . The SNCF manages all the suburban trains in Ile-de-France, the RER C, D and E, and part of the RER A and B. The extent of the repercussions of the strike on traffic is not yet known.
“We decided to shake the coconut tree by placing a date in the landscape,” Fabien Villedieu of SUD-Rail told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming information revealed on Wednesday May 1 by RMC. The call for a strike falls on a Tuesday, the day after Pentecost Monday, so “we are preserving the bridges,” recalled Fabien Villedieu.
For the moment, SNCF management is offering Ile-de-France railway workers a bonus of 50 euros gross per day of service during the Games, according to the unions. “A fixed bonus would suit us well, [at a minimum] of 1,000 euros,” said Mr. Villedieu, as is the case, for example, at the RATP, where metro and RER drivers work from July 22 to September 8 will receive 1,600 euros.
A new day of negotiations must take place on May 22, the day after this day of strike. “It is better that we negotiate in May rather than at the last minute in July. We want things to go well, but everyone has to get along,” explained Mr. Villedieu, recalling that the SNCF was going to run 5,000 additional trains in Ile-de-France in August compared to to a normal summer.
“Beyond the financial aspect, (…) we want the issues of work rhythms to be strictly applied to work in complete safety,” recalled the general secretary of the CGT-Cheminots, Thierry Nier. “We have been calling for several months” without a clear answer, he lamented. For its part, SNCF refuses to comment on the content of the current negotiations and recalls that the CEO, Jean-Pierre Farandou, plans to reach an agreement on the subject at the end of May or the beginning of June.
