SNCF: Why controllers are threatening to strike over the weekend of 17-18 February during the school holidays

SNCF controllers are threatening to strike on February 16, 17 and 18, which coincide with school holiday weekends for large numbers of students and their parents. Unionized by a Facebook group called Collectif National ASCT (CNA), the controllers are threatening to go on strike once again. These collectives, formed outside any union framework, are not authorized to submit notices and must therefore rely on the union to make its demands.

Sud-Rail therefore entered a mid-week notice of vacation departures for the academies of Besançon, Dijon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble from February 15, 8:00 pm to February 19, 8:00 am. , Lyon, Limoges and Poitiers. This weekend is also in the middle of the Academies of Ile-de-France as well as school holidays in Montpellier and Toulouse. CGT-Caminotes took action this Friday by filing a strike notice that could be extended from February 15 until 7:00 p.m. The first union of the railway group “calls on railway workers in the train sector, regardless of their activity (InOui, Ouigo, TER, Intercités, Transilien), their grade or their work, to stop work on February 16, 17 and 18”.

Controllers and unions alike believe that certain measures promised during the conflict settlement at the end of 2022 are slow to be implemented, such as the mandatory presence of two controllers per TGV. They are also demanding an increase in their work bonus. CGT wants to increase this to 780 euros per month – compared to 720 euros currently. According to Sud-Rail’s Fabian Villedieu, they finally ask for “the recognition of the rigor of the profession with the renegotiation of the contract on the gradual cessation of activity”, which makes it possible to manage the end of one’s career.

The CFDT-Caminotes also condemned the non-implementation of measures resulting from the emergency exit agreement signed at the end of 2022. The union did not officially support the strike but called on its local branches to submit urgent requests for consultation (DCI), before the strike was announced.

In November, mandatory annual negotiations (NAO), signed by two of the four unions, ratified an average 4.6% pay increase in 2024 for SNCF railway workers. Critics of the contract decry the modest increase of just 1.8%, with the rest stemming from seniority and personal advancement. Sud-Rail gave up in January to “build a movement on wages” and threatened to strike over Christmas before meeting. 2022 Christmas strike which forced the SNCF to cancel numerous TGVs and leave around 200,000 passengers behind,