Just one day after Deutsche Bahn train drivers stopped work in protest, a new strike is set to begin at SNCF.
The SUD-Rail union has called on SNCF employees at ticket counters and call centres to go on strike in protest at working conditions on Wednesday 13 March, the day when summer holiday bookings go on sale. SNCF will start sales on Wednesday on TGV Inoui and Intercity trains for the period including the school summer holidays and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, from 6 July to 11 September.
“On 13 March, railwaymen and railwaywomen working in stations and 3635 (Remote Customer Relations) centres will stop work to send a final warning signal to SNCF management. At every start of the ticket sales period for the big holiday departures, SNCF management is revelling in the millions of euros it earns in a few minutes. Of course, we congratulate ourselves that the trains are filling up, but this has been made possible thanks to the work of thousands of commercial agents, salesmen and saleswomen, telesalesmen and telesaleswomen who are not grateful to SNCF for the extent of their participation and investment”, reads the press release issued by SUD-Rail.
A new strike at SNCF. The management has tried to appease the protesters
In particular, the union is calling for additional jobs in customer relations and improved working conditions following the implementation of new ticketing software.
SUD-Rail, which won almost 19% of the vote in the last professional elections, after CGT-Cheminots and Unsa ferroviaire, warned that the mobilisation on 13 March was only a first step and warned that SNCF officials would need these employees during the Olympic Games.
To try to satisfy the railway workers, the state-owned company has offered employees mobilised for the Olympic and Paralympic Games an extra 50 euros a day and an additional bonus of 200 to 500 euros, depending on the period when they plan their holidays. Unions are sceptical that this money will only be allocated to a small minority.
A strike by German Deutsche Bahn rail workers is taking place on Tuesday.
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