REACTION
"Edouard Philippe puts oil on the fire". Asked Saturday night Europe 1, Rémi Aufrère-Privel, deputy secretary general of the CFDT-Cheminots, denounced the intervention of the Prime Minister, earlier in the day, about the movement of railway workers.
While many agents of the SNCF exercise their right of withdrawal following an accident that caused several injuries on Wednesday, including a train driver, the head of government went this Saturday at the Gare de l'Est in Paris. He denounced a "diversion of the right of withdrawal" exercised by SNCF agents disrupting traffic. "The right of withdrawal is a trade union right that I fully respect but which is not implemented and which has turned into a wildcat strike," he lamented. "I asked the SNCF to examine all the consequences, including judicial, that could be given when people do not respect the law," said Philippe.
"With this statement, Edouard Philippe puts oil on the fire and it is really not necessary at this time.We are for the appeasement, and a priori , it is not the choice made by the Premier Minister, and it is very regrettable, "retorted Rémi Aufrère-Privel at the microphone of Europe 1.
"It would be a little ridiculous to have to organize a solidarity strike ..."
"It can create a very radical state of mind, even against the interest of railway workers and travelers," the trade unionist continues. "Today, we must not agitate the threat of punishment," he claims. Before warning: "It would be a little ridiculous to have to organize a solidarity strike to defend all the colleagues who are involved in legal proceedings by the management ..."
Like Friday, the SNCF traffic was very disturbed Saturday, the first day of the school holidays. SUD-Rail, as well as the CGT-Cheminots, FO-Cheminots and the Fgaac-CFDT, dispute the operating mode "equipment agent alone" which allows to circulate trains without controller, evoking risks of safety for travelers, whereas according to the direction "it exists since tens of years".
But Saturday, the boss of the SNCF challenged in person the validity of the right of withdrawal exercised by agents of the company and announced its intention to go to court to recognize that it is a strike " surprise ", without notice. "This is not a right of withdrawal today, there is no serious and imminent danger on any train to the SNCF," said Guillaume Pepy, interviewed on BFMTV.