The pension reform might provoke “a fairly strong reaction” from railway workers, fears the CEO of SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou, who wants to “go through as little trouble as possible” a likely new period of strike.
“We can expect a fairly strong reaction around these subjects, which will come to disrupt the company”, he said in his wishes to the railway workers posted online on Wednesday, when the previous attempt at reform had caused a month and a half of strike, in December 2019 and January 2020, and cost the company nearly a billion euros.
“We will have a thought for our customers”, especially “those who need the train to go to work”, he says.
“We will have to try to get through this period which promises to be difficult as little as possible,” continues Mr. Farandou, a week before the announcement of the government’s pension reform project.
The year 2022 was marked by the return of attendance, also welcomes the boss of the SNCF. “In return, the production apparatus was put under pressure, the personnel, the rolling stock, all of this was very tense and we may have had here and there some small quality of service problems. So we must remain vigilant “, he observes.
Railway workers have been increased by an average of 6% and should be increased by the same amount in 2023. “It’s 6% once more, which, by the way, is 12% in two years. There is not much of companies that have increased their staff by an average of 12% in two years”, remarks Jean-Pierre Farandou.
If he does not confirm the figure of 2.2 billion euros in net profit for 2022 mentioned in the press, Mr. Farandou concedes that “it is likely that (the public group) is off to have a good year” .
“We should be happy regarding that,” he said. “A company that earns a little money is a company that can invest for its future, in TGV trains, in workshops, in stations, in infrastructure, in information systems. So it’s a good news that the SNCF is making some money.”
“We are at 5% of results compared to the total turnover of the company, so it is still very moderate”, he tempers.
“2023 is much more complicated,” he warns, fearing higher inflation or lower attendance due to lower activity.
Anyway, the SNCF will continue to recruit “massively”: 7,000 people this year, following 6,000 in 2022, according to him.
“I want that in all the establishments, there are enough personnel to make a quality production”, he notes, promising to “better protect and better develop the railway workers within the company” and in particular to treat “everyday irritants”.
“I very much hope that we will have decisions that will be taken this year in 2023 for a massive plan of investment in the railway”, also indicates Mr. Farandou who has struggled in recent months to obtain favorable financial arbitrations. to the sector.
“I have heard, like others, the President of the Republic talk regarding express metropolitan rail networks in a dozen major cities in the region. I also hear several ministers who say + yes, we need to put more money in the French rail network +. (…) It’s my piece of blue sky”, rejoices the CEO of the SNCF.
