Europe 1 with AFP 10:50 p.m., February 7, 2024

A meeting on Wednesday between the management of SNCF Voyageurs and the unions did not make it possible to lift the threat of an agitated strike by controllers on the weekend of February 17-18, in the middle of school holidays in a large part of the country. .

The unions, which carry the voice of a collective of controllers created on Facebook at the end of 2022, denounce the non-application of the conflict resolution agreement signed at the time. A massive strike by crew chiefs in the middle of the Christmas weekend led the SNCF to cancel numerous TGVs, leaving 200,000 travelers in the lurch a few days before the holidays.

The agreement, signed in a hurry, provided for better remuneration, recruitment, as well as the opening of discussions on the arduousness of the profession. “Management tried to convince us that it was applying the measures promised in December 2022, but in the face, we gave it many examples of cases or places where this was not the case,” explained to the AFP Erik Meyer, Federal Secretary South-Rail.

A round table on arduousness and early career end schemes organized in March

The union, which is calling for a strike with the CGT-Cheminots and the CFDT-Cheminots, deplores, for example, the systematic non-presence of two crew chiefs by TGV, as initially promised. The questions of arduousness and early career end schemes specific to controllers, which were to be discussed, have still not been addressed, Sud-Rail also denounces.

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Management has promised to hold a round table on the subject in March. It also guaranteed 200 additional recruitments this year, to reach the figure of 850 new captains in 2024. "Today's meeting was not intended to lift the notice, but to take a complete stock of the "state of progress of commitments, it was not a negotiation meeting", clarified an SNCF spokesperson.

“Strong demands for immediacy” from the unions

“Trade unions have strong demands for immediacy,” underlined the company’s HR director, Lucile Quessart. “The measures – resulting from the agreement at the end of 2022 – have all been launched, they are almost all multi-year, so we must confirm them over time,” she added.

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For example, all TGVs could not be systematically provided with two crew chiefs because "we were not in a position to do so. It's launched, and we are hopeful of getting there." Another example cited by Ms. Quessart: remuneration. A system allowing it to be retained more or less in the event of sick leave just came into force in January. “Perhaps we have not communicated enough” on this subject, argued the HR department.

A sign that the crisis is worrying, SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou will receive all the unions on Thursday to address the social agenda, including the subject of the controllers' strike.