The unions promise a mobilization of 30 to 40% of bus drivers.
The management of the RATP, it announces a traffic "almost normal".
One thing is certain, this inter-union strike movement, initially planned for mid-November and then postponed for a month due to the health crisis, is happening extremely badly on Thursday.
Two days after the deconfinement, and on the eve of the end of year celebrations, for the thousands of users concerned.
On the union side, we say there is an emergency.
The framework which will determine the future working conditions of machinists in Paris and in the inner suburbs must soon be fixed by decree.
As of January 1, 2025, the RATP network will be open to competition and dismantled in batches.
Different companies will be able to run the buses.
And drivers will automatically switch with the line to which they are assigned, under the new operator.
Working conditions fixed by decree
“A social backpack” will guarantee them in particular employment, the maintenance of the pension system or even access to RATP health centers.
But, for working conditions, a decree must set the rules that future companies must, at a minimum, respect.
The famous Territorialized Social Framework (CST).
And it is precisely this CST project that the RATP unions are contesting.
"It's a historic setback for our rights," protests Cémil, CGT representative of the Croix-Nivert bus depot (15th century).
According to him, the new CST will increase the average working time by more than an hour as well as the daily limit to twelve hours, that is to say two more: “It is not acceptable for a work with such hardship linked to traffic jams. , to the regular violence of road or bus users ”, continues the union representative.
"It is not for the public to align with the private sector, but the reverse"
He also mentions the reduction in rest periods or holidays, and the fear of stagnating wages: “Over a career of thirty years, the salary difference between the machinists of the RATP and those of private companies, is 60%. !
"
“It is not for the public to align with the private sector, but the reverse.
We must not back down on rights!
», Continues Ahmed, CGT representative of the Flanders depot (19th century).
He just left, three years ago, a private bus company to join the RATP, "The rates will be hellish, even as we drive users, that it is a public service", he regrets, before adding: "How can we also believe that certain lines will not be impacted?"
"
“Private companies are there to generate numbers.
If a bus line does not, or only during rush hour, we know very well what will happen.
It will be abolished or with longer waiting times ”, regrets another union representative.
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RATP's opening up to competition: "Our employees know that we are defending them", assures the CEO
In July 2019, heard by the National Assembly, Catherine Guillouard, CEO of RATP, explained the reasons for this framework set by decree, and applicable only to RATP bus drivers (19,000 employees are affected) by "conditions operations specific to Paris and its inner suburbs ”and its“ quite exceptional constraints ”.
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Before confinement, the Régie made a billion bus trips per year, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. With service frequencies at peak hours twice as high in Paris, compared to provincial networks.
Without forgetting, according to the president of the RATP, "the particular traffic conditions, with extremely dense traffic", the obligation to "re-enter traffic at a frequency unlike any other", due to works, dedicated clogs, traffic jams, etc.
“Also, adds Catherine Guillouard, we find it normal that, in the context of opening up to competition, faced with these constraints and this particularity of operating conditions, a high-level social framework should be provided, with portability of very clear rights.
"