SNCF: Jean-Baptiste Djebbari denounces a "strike out of habit"

The notice filed for September 17 by the CGT-Cheminots, the first SNCF union, falls under the "strike out of habit" at a time "singularly complicated for all public transport", estimated the Minister for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.

"I find it difficult to understand this strike very honestly. It clings to the confederal movement but I have the impression of a strike out of habit, it's a shame," said the minister on Franceinfo.

"In a complicated moment for France, particularly complicated for all public transport (...), I would have hoped that there was a form of social peace desirable for all", he added.

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Especially since the government "invests more than ever in the rail", by devoting 4.7 of the 11.5 billion euros of the recovery plan devoted to transport, recalled Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.

"When we are in a deep crisis (...), everyone has to get down to it. It sometimes means questioning ideological matrices or political preconceptions which today have no place", he added. 

A call to "a sense of responsibility"

The CGT-Cheminots filed a strike notice at the end of August for the national day of action of September 17, launched by the CGT, joined by the FSU, Solidaires and youth organizations.

The trade unions raise the question of employment: "fight against precariousness and poverty, increase in wages, development of public services, definitive abandonment of the pension reform", they write in a joint statement. 

Prime Minister Jean Castex appealed last week "to the sense of responsibility of each and everyone".

"In the health (...), economic, social (current) context, this strike, it is difficult to understand", had for his part lamented Friday on RTL the CEO of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou, saying to himself convinced that it would be "rather little followed, with little disturbance".

"I feel that the current social climate among the railway workers is not to go on strike which raises the question of deep motivation," he said.