RATP: an agreement on the working hours of bus drivers signed with the unions

Europe 1 with AFP 3:32 p.m., January 6, 2023

The RATP announced on Friday that it had signed an agreement with the FO and Unsa unions, the two of them in the majority, providing for "an increase in the working time of drivers by an average of 120 hours per year".

In return, bus and tram drivers will see their salaries increase by 372 euros gross per month.

With this agreement, the RATP, led by former Prime Minister Jean Castex, hopes to "find as quickly as possible" a level of quality service while a quarter of the buses have not been running since September due to recruitment difficulties, increased absenteeism and sporadic strikes.

"A renewed social dialogue"

This agreement "testifies to a renewed social dialogue", welcomed the RATP.

It puts an end to several months of conflict with the surface network (RDS) which operates 354 bus lines in Paris and in the inner suburbs.

The previous management had already tried to reach an agreement to increase the working hours of machinists in exchange for wage increases in order to prepare for the opening to competition scheduled for January 1, 2025, but no union had agreed to do so. sign.

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The former CEO, Catherine Guillouard, had therefore decided to unilaterally modify the working conditions of drivers by making them work twenty hours more per year in exchange for an annual increase of 460 euros gross.

Arrived at the head of the RATP at the end of November, Jean Castex immediately made social dialogue a priority of his mandate to restore serenity within the company, faced with a major upheaval with the end of its monopoly in Paris.

Two services in the same day

The agreement signed by two out of four unions (but not the CGT or the CFE-CGC), therefore provides for the passage from 121 to 115 days of rest per year by 2024 for 18,000 bus and tram drivers.

The daily amplitude of work will also increase from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and more "twice" service - that is to say two services in the same day - will be possible.

Finally, the average daily working time will be increased by 40 minutes, from 6h42 to 7h22.

In addition to the salary increase of 372 euros gross per month which will take place from January, bus and tram drivers will benefit from a 20% increase in a qualification-difficulty bonus, "bringing it to 70 euros gross per month ".

Thanks to this agreement, the RATP also hopes to improve its attractiveness to promote the recruitment of drivers "whose job is more and more demanding in the dense urban area of ​​the Ile-de-France".

In 2022, the public group has almost reached its target of 1,500 recruitments and forecasts equivalent recruitment volumes for 2023.