“If the Olympics negotiations go badly, it will happen again” – Libération

The railway unions largely mobilized their troops this Tuesday, May 21, in anticipation of a negotiation meeting on compensation linked to the Olympic Games.

The smoke bombs and SUD rail flags look great on the Trocadéro esplanade. This Tuesday, May 21, strike day for many railway workers in Ile-de-France, the third union of the SNCF organized a symbolic action by taking over – under the noses of the police – this square which dominates the tower Eiffel and near which the beach volleyball matches will take place during the Olympic Games. Satisfied to have thwarted the surveillance of the police, the SUD activists proudly shook a banner “No Olympics without the railway workers” and sang in unison: “Emmanuel Macron, we are going to ruin your Olympics.”

But in reality the threat is aimed more at the management of the SNCF than at the President of the Republic. All the company’s unions have a meeting with her on Wednesday for a final negotiation meeting on compensation for those who will work between July 26 and September 8. Claiming 95% of strikers on lines C and R and 70% among controllers, Fabien Villedieu, federal secretary of SUD rail, “assumes establishing a balance of power” and intends to “put crazy pressure on management”. “Every union representative knows that the discussion, with or without the strike, is not the same thing. Tomorrow, if the negotiation goes badly, it will be all over again,” he warns.

This strike is “preventive” and “is not acceptable”, said, for his part, the Minister of Transport, Patrice Vergriete, during a question session to the government in the Assembly. The minister reminds management and the unions of their responsibilities, while considering the request for compensation “legitimate”. For the moment, SNCF has put 50 euros gross per day of service on the table. A proposal which has not evolved since November 2023 and which is considered largely insufficient by employee representatives, including those who had not given the instruction to walk out this Tuesday, such as Unsa and the CFDT . According to their estimates, some 4,500 additional trains should run in August compared to a normal summer, with attendance multiplied in places by 10. At the SNCF, everyone is therefore eyeing the gains won by the unions in other branches, hoping to less get as much. For the record, the police and gendarmes obtained up to 1,900 euros, the garbage collectors too, and the RATP agents up to 2,500 euros (but 1,000 euros gross on average).

“50 euros gross is an indecent proposition,” thunders Fabien Villedieu. In order not to reveal his cards, the trade unionist, RER driver, does not put forward a specific demand but mentions a minimum of 1,000 euros in total for his colleagues who will work this summer and “will not be able to go on vacation with their families” . “We are just asking for our due and recognition of our work,” adds CGT member Bérenger Cernon, present during an AGM of strikers at Lyon station on Tuesday morning. The efforts required of us are not trivial: we are talking about 15 million travelers.” He recalls, for all intents and purposes, that the SNCF is largely profitable (2.4 billion euros in 2022, 1.3 billion in 2023) and warns: “Either management goes to the cash drawer or we will assume to go to conflict.”