Paris (AFP)

National strike fund at the CFDT, pools on the internet or local collections ... True financial support or a simple boost, various initiatives are trying to fill the holes on the pay slips of SNCF and RATP agents on strike against pension reform.

"The strikers lose money. The fighters manage to have a little money aside, but it's hard, and harder when the salary is low," said Fabien Dumas, federal secretary of the SUD union- Rail.

The CFDT is the "only French trade union organization to have a strike fund for its members", financed by a part of their contributions, notes the confederation on its site. This National Union Action Fund (Cnas) helps members "financially" beyond seven hours on strike: compensation of € 7.30 per hour for full-time employees.

"It is not quite a minimum wage, but not very far. It compensates for a significant part of the loss of salary for the lowest wages," notes Sébastien Mariani, assistant secretary general of the CFDT-Cheminots. In parallel, this union launched a kitty on the internet to "financially help the SNCF agents who have been mobilizing since December 5", the first day of this unlimited strike.

This type of collection is flourishing on the web, like the "national online kitty" organized by Unsa Rail, according to its secretary general Didier Mathis. Or that launched locally by activists who will pay "each euro" collected "exclusively to (their) colleagues from the Unsa rail company of Languedoc-Roussillon on a renewable strike" to "limit their losses a little", they explain.

At SUD-Rail, "nothing is planned at the national level", specifies Erik Meyer, federal secretary. But "there are local initiatives", adds Fabien Dumas. For example, this pool opened on the internet by Parisian activists at the Gare de Lyon, who "will redistribute" the amount collected "to all the strikers" in the Paris-Sud-Est area of ​​the SNCF.

- "End of difficult months" -

At the CGT-RATP, "we don't organize a strike fund," says Bertrand Hammache, its secretary general, but there can be "collections around the depots". No national strike fund either at CGT-Cheminots, according to its spokesperson Cédric Robert.

"Local solidarity funds may exist but they are not intended to compensate for all the losses" because "the striking railway workers will lose between 60 and 100 euros of wages per day," he said.

On the pay slips, salary reductions will appear from the December bulletin to the SNCF. At RATP, this will be postponed until the end of January. The railway workers received their end-of-year bonus in mid-December. RATP agents received their 13th month at the end of November.

"The strikers do like all the French who have difficult ends of the month. Some have considered taking loans, digging in their overdraft" to finance their strike, reports Thierry Babec, secretary general of the Unsa-RATP, union which has "no pot".

During the great 36-day strike in 2018 at SNCF against the railway reform, strikers "had borrowed. This year, the movement was announced in advance. Many deferred spending, vacation plans ... All that was not essential ", details Fabien Dumas.

Outside the railway world and the RATP, the Info'Com-CGT union is currently dedicating to its employees a "renewable strike" against pension reform the funds from its "financial solidarity fund", launched in 2016 during the conflict against Labor law. At its counter stopped last Friday, it displayed an "available amount" exceeding 330,000 euros.

Last year, a pot of support for striking rail workers had won more than a million euros on the internet. Distributed among them all, the strikers had received "symbolic support from 7 to 15 euros per day of strike", according to Cédric Robert.

© 2019 AFP