Strike day, live: transport, schools, energy… the government once again calls on “part of the employers to increase wages” – Le Monde

At the SNCF dormant notices until 2050 Everywhere in France are held general assemblies (GA) of railway workers – 254 in total, according to Laurent Brun, secretary general of the CGT-Cheminots – it is up to them to decide on the renewal or not of the strike. Legally, it can be. The call for the day of Tuesday, October 18 was launched on the basis of a notice dating from November 2019, which related to pensions, was signed CGT, SUD and UNSA and was never lifted. “In haste, the trade unions went to get this dormant notice”, explains François Nogué, director of human resources (HRD) of the SNCF, who deplores it. The SNCF challenged this practice in court, but its steps were unsuccessful. The practice of dormant notices has become common “to circumvent the law on guaranteed service”, according to Mr. Nogué. This requires, fifteen days before a conflict, to trigger a social alarm (a DCI, immediate consultation process), then to file five days before the movement a notice, if the discussions have not succeeded. “In fact, we have several dormant notices. SUD-Rail files one every two months as a precaution. We even received one from FO which runs until 2050.” This is what enabled SUD-Rail and the CGT to quickly launch this movement and leave the door open for a renewable strike. Today’s mobilization at the SNCF must be equivalent to that of July 6. In any case, this is what the group was planning on the eve of the strike. There would therefore be 20% of strikers, with strong disturbances in Ile-de-France and in the TER. For Mr. Nogué, SNCF HRD, discussions on purchasing power have never stopped, including last week, but formal negotiations cannot take place before the professional elections at the end of November (from 17 to 24). On Monday, October 17, the HRD therefore wrote to union delegates to assure them that negotiations would begin very soon after the elections and that they would include a review clause on purchasing power in 2022. If the 5.8% of The double increases already planned are not enough, given inflation at the end of the year, additional measures may be taken and “give rise to retroactive application to the last quarter of 2022”, he writes. Bilateral meetings will take place in early November. Sophie Fay