Europe 1 with AFP 1:21 p.m., October 22, 2021

SNCF had initially planned 2 TGV Atlantique out of 3 in circulation on Saturday, but the traffic will be "improved", announces the railway group.

The forecasts for Friday and Sunday are unchanged, while those for Monday are not yet known. 

SNCF announced Friday that it would run 8 TGV Atlantique out of 10 on Saturday, improving its initial traffic forecasts while the drivers of these TGVs are called to strike from Friday noon to Monday noon by three unions.

For this first holiday weekend of All Saints' Day, the railway group had initially planned 2 TGV Atlantique out of 3 in circulation on Saturday, but the traffic will be "improved" - from 66% to 80% of the trains insured - thanks to "the mobilization of all available teams" and "the optimization of the organization of the transport plan", he explained.

Forecast unchanged for Sunday

The forecasts for Friday and Sunday are unchanged, a spokesperson told AFP.

The SNCF will therefore run 9 out of 10 TGV Atlantique trains on Friday, then 2 out of 3 trains on Sunday. for another date and without charge, "said SNCF.

Limited to the "TGV Atlantique axis", this social movement "concerns the TGV Inoui and Ouigo from and to Brittany, the Pays de la Loire, Center-Val de Loire, New Aquitaine and Toulouse", underlined the group. .

"The transport plan is therefore normal on all other TGV axes", he added.

The forecast for Monday morning is not yet known.

At the heart of the strike: working conditions

The CGT-Cheminots, SUD-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots unions call on TGV Atlantique drivers to strike from Friday noon to Monday noon to protest in particular against their working conditions and their salaries.

Negotiations, carried out for several days with the management, had not made it possible to lift this call to strike, which could be renewed every weekend, from Friday noon to Monday noon.

This strike notice is "unlimited", told AFP Fabien Dumas, federal secretary of SUD-Rail, believing that the movement could "extend to controllers".

In a common leaflet, the CGT-Cheminots, SUD-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots explain that "for weeks", they "have not ceased to challenge management on the growing discontent" of train drivers on the TGV Atlantique axis , who suffer from "disorganization", with "degraded" working days, "always longer", with "a decrease in average remuneration".

They also protest against "the decline in the workforce", which leads to "refusals of leave".

According to Mr. Dumas, the three unions "must meet on Monday to take stock and consider what to do next".