The pension reform could provoke "
a fairly strong reaction
" from railway workers, fears the CEO of the 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.
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“
We will have a thought for our customers
” in particular “
those who need the train to go to work
”, he said.
“
We will have to try to get through this period which promises to be difficult as little as possible
,” continues Jean-Pierre Farandou, a week before the announcement of the government’s pension reform project.
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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 could have here and there some small problems of quality of service.
So we have to be vigilant
,” he says.
Railway workers have been increased by an average of 6% and should be increased by the same amount in 2023. “
It's 6% again, which, incidentally, makes 12% in two years.
There are not many 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, Jean-Pierre Farandou concedes that "
it is likely that (the public group) is off to have a good year
".
“
We should be happy
about 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 good news that the SNCF is making some money.
»