Approaching Christmas Eve, railroad workers opposed to the pension reform multiply, Tuesday, December 24, actions to maintain mobilization. No Christmas miracle concerning the transport situation, for this twentieth day of strike: Tuesday, as expected, 40% of TGV and TER trains and 20% of Intercities and Transiliens.
The rate of strikers at the SNCF rose slightly to 9.8% on Tuesday morning. Among the personnel essential for running trains, almost half (49.3%) of the drivers, more than a quarter (29.4%) of the controllers and 12.6% of the dispatchers were on strike on Christmas Eve. .
"After twenty days, we are at 400 million euros in turnover which will not have been achieved in the period," said Jean-Pierre Farandou in an interview with Le Monde on Tuesday, warning that "the 2019 accounts will be strongly impacted by this conflict. "
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Six completely closed lines
In Île-de-France, the SNCF warns that several lines "will close early at the end of the day" and will only reopen on Wednesday "in the early afternoon". We will know during the day the traffic forecasts of TGV and Ouigo during the weekend of 28-29, for the crossover of the Christmas holidays.
For users of the Paris metro, no change in what became a routine in December, with six lines still completely closed. Only the two automatic lines 1, 14 and the Orlyval run normally. On the RER side, one in two trains run on line A and one in three trains on line B during peak hours. Two out of three buses are in circulation in the capital.
The CGT-Cheminots also planned actions all week. "There is no reason why it should stop suddenly," says in Humanity Laurent Brun, the general secretary of the CGT-Cheminots, already projecting himself after Christmas. "You don't stop when you've lost 20 or 25 days of pay just because it's New Year."
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Christmas "banquets"
As of Monday, Christmas "banquets" were organized, such as at the Fleury-les-Aubrais station in Loiret. This kind of initiative is repeated Tuesday, like a "strikers' meal" organized by SUD-Rail Gare de Lyon in Paris. While waiting for a "high point" Saturday 28, explained Erik Meyer of SUD-Rail, with mobilizations throughout the territory, at the call of the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail.
The strike movement also affects refineries, but the supply of service stations is "almost normal", even if the situation is locally more tense in the Paca region, assured Tuesday the president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (UFIP ), Francis Duseux.
RATP side, the number of sick leaves exploded since the start of the strike, according to management, confirming information from the Parisian who evokes the stress of non-strikers but also the hypothesis that it would be a way to support the strike without losing wages.
Union consultations on January 7
Matignon communicated Monday evening its program of consultations with the social partners: they will be received on January 7 by several ministers to talk about hardship and management of end of career. Discussions will continue before the bill is presented to the Council of Ministers on January 22, to discuss in particular the end of career in hospital, the gradual retirement of civil servants or teachers' salaries.
Philippe Martinez, the secretary general of the CGT, regretted Tuesday for having learned about the calendar from the press and does not yet know if he will go there. At the same time, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe "will propose (...) a working method" concerning the financial balance of the pension system during the "week of January 6".
"The subjects on which we are proposed to discuss have nothing to do with the universal pension system", had denounced, Monday, the number one of Labor Force, Yves Veyrier, calling again on the government to give up outright to reform. With the CGT, FO will once again be on the street on January 9.
With AFP
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