French travellers face rail strike chaos as unions test Macron
Half of essential staff down tools as workers protest over planned SNCF overhaul
David Keohane in Paris
Commuters cross the tracks at a crowded train station in central Paris on Tuesday, the first day of a programme of rolling strikes by rail workers © AFP
French commuters faced chaos on what is being dubbed “Black Tuesday” as rail workers began a series of rolling strikes aimed at challenging President Emmanuel Macron’s reform agenda.
The four main rail unions are planning to strike on two in every five days for the next three months to protest against an overhaul of SNCF, the heavily indebted state-owned rail operator.
About 48 per cent of essential staff downed tools on Tuesday, 34 per cent of the total rail workforce, according to SNCF, leaving only 12 per cent of high-speed TGV trains and one in five regional services running. Trains to other countries in Europe were also badly hit.
Building on a day of protest last month, the unions are hoping to force the French president to rethink his SNCF overhaul, including the plan to end rail workers’ generous benefits. They argue the reforms will “destroy the public service nature of the railways through pure ideological dogmatism”.
Mr Macron’s efforts are aimed in part at preparing the rail operator for more competition as EU rules open up its home market. His government has said that if necessary, it will enact a rail reform bill through “ordinances”, a process that shortens the time taken to pass legislation.
Riot police hold back demonstrators as striking rail workers and supporters march in Paris on Tuesday © Reuters“
The government will stand firm,” said transport minister Elisabeth Borne in an interview with BFM TV on Tuesday as she urged unions to negotiate.
“Elisabeth Borne is . . . just playing her role, there are no negotiations,” Laurent Brun, a spokesman for the CGT union, responded.
“If the strikers have to be respected, the millions of French people who want to go to work, because they don’t have a choice, because they want to go to work, they must also be respected,” Edouard Philippe, French prime minister, said in parliament on Tuesday.
SNCF has said the strike could cost the company close to €20m a day in lost revenue, although it cautioned that this was only an estimate.
Energy, rubbish collection and Air France employees are also on strike, and rail unions hope stoppages will spread to other parts of the economy, including the private sector. But according to an Ifop poll on Sunday, just over half those surveyed considered the strikes unjustified.
For both sides the stakes are extremely high. Many believe that if Mr Macron stands up to the unions he will be in a position to maintain his reform drive; last year the former investment banker succeeded in loosening France’s rigid jobs market with no significant union opposition.
Train drivers, who are some of the best protected public-sector workers, helped kill off parts of a welfare reform in 1995 and watered down changes to the pension system in 2010. However, with a strong parliamentary majority and weakened opposition, Mr Macron is widely thought to have the political strength to push through further reforms.
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