The CGT calls on the railway workers to strike on Thursday, July 1, in particular to demand from the management of the SNCF a general increase in wages, hiring and "
real
" negotiations on the social framework, the union announced Wednesday in a press release.
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“
Against the social jungle, for our wages, our jobs, our rights, for a social status of the railway workers: all on strike!
“, Urges the first union of the SNCF, which will organize beforehand a rally, next Tuesday, in front of the headquarters of the SNCF in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis).
Pressure build-up
The call to strike "
is the result of a certain increase in pressure on several sites in May and June, which illustrate the increase in internal tension
" at the SNCF, the secretary general of the SNCF told AFP. CGT-Cheminots, Laurent Brun.
“
It is also a pivotal period of discussions on the future social status of the
railway
group
”, he added.
Among its ten or so demands, the CGT-Cheminots asks
the SNCF to “
stop reorganizations
”, the “
re-internalization
” of the activities entrusted to subcontractors, the maintenance of “
traffic facilities
” (free tickets or reduced price for railway workers and their relatives), as well as "
stopping
" the creation of subsidiaries to respond to calls for tenders for regional express train (TER) contracts, as part of the opening up of competition, according to the press release.
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The union also wants "
a positioning of the management to prevent the government from implementing a new reform
" of the "
special scheme
" for the retirement of railway workers, "
through its draft pension decree
".
The CGT-Cheminots notes that it had alerted management in mid-May to "
the growing unease within (the) company
" and says that it only received "
silence
"
in response
, despite "
multiple arrests.
".
Dissatisfaction
According to the union, the public group "
continues to transform
" by copying the "
operation of private companies
" and its management intends to "
erase existing standards and social guarantees
", in order to "
lower
" them.
Last week, during a press conference, Mr. Brun had already underlined "
a very big dissatisfaction in the company
", by judging "
probable
" a social conflict.
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As for a new pension reform, "
it will not put in a good mood
" the railway workers who "
did not go on strike for two and a half months
" against the latest reform project, in the winter of 2019-20, he had warned.