Some 200,000 travelers in France were looking to save their Christmas weekend on Wednesday after their trains were canceled due to a new strike by controllers. Connections between France and Switzerland will also be disrupted.
The SBB warned travelers on Twitter on Wednesday about the expected difficulties on TGV traffic between France and Switzerland. The company recommends that the customers concerned go to the TGV Lyria and SNCF sites to find out about possible cancellations.
Customers in possession of a ticket are notified directly by email, recalls Jean-Philippe Schmidt, spokesperson for CFF. The controllers’ strike is scheduled for December 23-26. There is also a notice for the following weekend, from December 30 to January 2.
three out of five
On Wednesday evening, the SNCF announced a slightly degraded transport plan for Saturday and Sunday compared to the initial forecasts, with two out of five TGVs removed instead of one out of three initially. One out of two TGVs should run on the North and Atlantic axes and three out of five TGVs on the South-East and East axes.
On Friday, two out of three TGVs should run on the Atlantic and Mediterranean axes, one out of two trains on the North axis (the Paris-Lille is announced to be almost normal) and three out of four East TGVs. The Intercités are supposed to run normally, according to the SNCF, but several have been canceled between Paris and Clermont-Ferrand or Limoges, for example.
Travelers whose train has been canceled will be able to change their ticket without paying the price difference, repeats the SNCF. But most of the maintained trains are already full.
200% refund
The attitude of the controllers, who launched this strike by organizing on Facebook over the unions, somewhat annoys the management of the SNCF, which calculates that the wage increases represent 12% on average over two years.
Last year, a strike also ruined the first weekend of departures during the Christmas holidays and the railway company had for the first time decided to reimburse travelers for double the amount of their canceled ticket.
The CEO of SNCF Voyageurs Christophe Fanichet renewed the measure on Wednesday. He who found last year “scandalous” to strike for the holidays repeated that it was “unacceptable”.
Retreating unions
“At Christmas, we don’t go on strike,” also stormed government spokesman Olivier Véran. “I obviously do not question the right to strike or the right of employees to demonstrate or to mobilize but frankly, is it essential to do so on a Christmas weekend? The answer is no”, estimated the minister on France Inter.
The controllers had already gone on strike the first weekend of December. Since November, the SNCF has been struggling to establish a dialogue with the collective organizing the movement, which is demanding better recognition of the specificity of their profession and are independent of the unions, even if they had to rely on the latter to file notices .
The management has proposed to increase the “work bonus” of the captains (the official name of the controllers) by 600 euros per year, part of which will be integrated into their salary in 2024, as well as an additional allowance of 600 euros gross per year.
Proposals deemed sufficiently satisfactory for the Unsa-Ferroviaire to withdraw its notice and for the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-rail not to call for the work to be stopped. Hundreds of controllers decided otherwise.
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