While many travelers will remain at the platform from this Friday and throughout the Christmas weekend, the SNCF has made new proposals to prevent the controllers’ strike from continuing until the New Year.
During a meeting with the unions on Thursday evening, the group’s management proposed “strong additional measures in favor of the recognition of the profession of skipper, the creation of positions, and the progression of their careers”, SNCF said in a statement.
The unions have until Friday 12:00 p.m. to decide on this new agreement.
Nearly half of the controllers will be on strike this weekend, causing the cancellation of one train out of three on Friday, and two trains out of five on Saturday and Sunday, especially TGVs.
Some axes will be more affected than others, such as the Atlantic axis or the North axis, with only one out of two TGVs.
However, this strike is atypical: it is led by an informal group of skippers organized on Facebook and rejecting any union membership.
This situation makes the representatives uncomfortable: the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail federations have filed notices for the collective but are not calling for a strike.
200% refund
The new management proposals include the creation of an ‘ASCT business line’ (head of the board), which brings together all the controllers under the same hat, a union source told AFP.
In all, 160 additional jobs should be created from 2023, and 40 more jobs ‘in sensitive trains’. The specific premium for controllers would also increase from 600 to 720 euros gross annually.
The government had put pressure on the SNCF on Thursday, asking for an end to this strike by controllers which could penalize around 200,000 holidaymakers.
Government spokesman Olivier Véran asked the strikers ‘to hear the legitimate request of the French to be able to find their family in good conditions’.
In an exceptional situation, exceptional measure: SNCF customers began to receive emails offering them a 200% refund in vouchers, whether they were able to travel or not.
Between exchanges and cancellations, a few places were still available Thursday evening on the main routes.
But the canceled or full trains have prompted many travelers to turn to coaches, carpooling, or simply their car.
Buses and plugs
Flixbus told AFP that it would carry 115,000 passengers from Friday to Monday, 10 to 15% more than in 2019.
‘I wanted to take a train to go to Orléans but it was way too expensive. I hesitated to take a Blablacar but it was the same price as the bus, so I booked a bus, explained to AFP Valentine, crossed Thursday at the Bordeaux bus station.
The car rental company Ucar has decided to surf the strike to offer its cars for the weekend, at the price of a canceled ticket.
According to Bison Futé, the day on Friday was already likely to be complicated on the road in Ile-de-France: the road information service advising to leave the region before 10:00 a.m., with a peak of traffic jams expected between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
It was already complicated to get around Thursday evening in Île-de-France, with an exceptional level of nearly 500 kilometers of traffic jams measured at 6 p.m. in the region.
Other travelers have adapted their train travel days.
“I decided to leave a day before, by taking leave, and also to postpone my return, by telecommuting”, explains Xavier, who joins Bayonne from Paris.
Air France, also affected by a call for a strike by two unions of hostesses and stewards until January 2, for its part indicated that it would operate all its flights on Friday and Saturday.
/ATS