French rail workers to strike in December: Major disruption expected
‘A time of conflict with the SNCF is upon us,’ announce unions opposed to privatisation and the closure of the SNCF freight service
The new strike will start at 19:00 on December 11 in a continuation of the industrial action starting on Thursday, November 21
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Major disruption is expected on the French rail network in December as unions confirm a new national strike in response to the privatisation of the SNCF and the closure of its freight line, announcing “a time of conflict with the SNCF”.
The four main rail unions – CGT, SUD, CFDT, and Unsa – had already called workers to strike on Thursday, November 21, over plans by state rail operator SNCF to dismantle its freight operations and open up the sector to further privatisation.
The rail unions described this first strike as an “ultimatum day”.
On November 9, they added that it will be followed by further action from December 11, which will see “unlimited strikes, renewable by 24-hour period.”
The new strike will start at 19:00 on December 11, however it is not yet known how many workers will participate and in what regions.
The SNCF has not commented on the strike.
Read more: French rail strike call: wide-scale disruption expected later this month
Unions oppose ‘balkanisation’ of rail network
The break up of Fret SNCF follows a wider trend of privatisation in the SNCF in accordance with a European Commission directive requiring that rail transport should be open to competition.
However, the commission has accused France of breaking this rule.
Indeed, the break up of Fret SNCF was only announced after the commission opened proceedings against France in 2023 for effectively subsidising Fret SNCF with €5billion of state help over the previous decade.
As a result, the company - which employs 5,000 people- will be replaced by two separate companies: Hexafret for freight transport, and Technis for maintenance.
Under the “discontinuity plan” of the company, negotiated in 2023 by then-transport minister Clément Beaune, most Fret SNCF workers will move to the new companies, with 500 layoffs.
The rail unions are opposed to the announced break up of Fret SNCF on January 1, 2025, which they denounced in a joint statement as following “the trajectory of network fragmentation and balkanisation”
“The company's management turned us down at the first meeting we had at the beginning of the week,” the national secretary of the Sud-Rail union, Julien Troccaz told Agence France-Presse.
“We have colleagues who have worked all their lives, for 20, 25 years, for the public company Fret SNCF, and on January 1, everything stops.
“Today, our colleagues don't know what's going to happen on January 1. They know they're going to be working for private companies, but they don't know what their social rights are. So obviously there's a lot of suffering,” said Mr Troccaz
