The effects of the controllers' strike should be reinforced on Saturday December 24 and Sunday December 25, with two TGVs canceled out of five, but each traveler will be compensated "200%", whether they have traveled or not, the SNCF said on Wednesday.

One out of two TGVs should run on the North and Atlantic axes and three out of five TGVs on the South-East and East axes.

Two Ouigo out of three are planned, said the SNCF in a press release.

Three out of four Lyria and Intercités trains are expected to run.

On Friday, two out of three TGVs should run on the Atlantic and Mediterranean axes, one out of two trains on the North axis (the Paris-Lille is announced to be almost normal) and three out of four East TGVs.

Each traveler whose train was canceled as part of the strike will benefit from a voucher equivalent to twice the amount of the ticket, the SNCF announced on Wednesday, even if the ticket was exchanged for another.

"This compensation will be accessible via a form" and is granted in addition to the 100% refund of the ticket, to anyone whose TGV Inoui, Ouigo or Intercité train scheduled between December 23 and 26 has been canceled, said SNCF. .

Organization on Facebook

Since November and after a first strike weekend in early December, the SNCF is struggling to establish dialogue with a collective of controllers who have organized themselves on Facebook to demand better recognition.

Independent of the unions, they still had to rely on them to file notices.

The management has proposed to increase the "work bonus" of the captains (official name of the controllers) by 600 euros per year, part of which integrated into the salary in 2024, as well as an additional allowance of 600 euros gross per year .

Proposals deemed sufficiently satisfactory for the Unsa-Ferroviaire to withdraw its notice and for the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-rail not to call for the work to be stopped.

Hundreds of controllers decided otherwise.

In 2019 against the pension reform, then in 2021 on the Southeast axis, strikes had also disrupted the first weekend of the holidays.

The railway company decided for the first time last year to reimburse travelers for double the amount of their canceled ticket.

This year, it adapted the system by introducing the purchase voucher.

Government reactions

This strike led several ministers to react.

"At Christmas, we don't go on strike," government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Wednesday.

"I think this strike cannot be justified, and this strike cannot be understood by the French," Transport Minister Clément Beaune told FranceInfo on Thursday.

At the same time, he dismissed the idea of ​​a possible requisition of SNCF personnel.

"We must not sell illusions", the requisitions being "framed legally and even constitutionally", he said.

"The only way not to penalize the French (...) is social dialogue", insisted the Minister of Transport, also indicating that the strike will "probably cost a hundred million euros" to the SNCF.

For his part, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire demanded a solution "in the next few hours" from the management of the SNCF so that it resolves the strike of the controllers.

"That is the responsibility of the management of the SNCF, it has the support of the State, it must find the ways and means to get out of this conflict", he said on Sud Radio.

"I think that deciding to strike on December 24 and 25 undermines the right to strike. After the years that we have known, there is this need to find each other. (...) 200,000 French people who will not be able to take their train to spend Christmas with their loved ones, it is not worthy", for his part declared the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Béchu on France 2.

However, the government does not expect any improvement in the coming hours and believes that the challenge "now is to ensure that we do not end up with the same scenario next week" for the weekend of New Year.

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