Six-week strike notice raised by major French rail union
Planned walkout covers Easter and May bank holidays
The union is yet to officially call on workers to strike on the given days
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A major French rail union has filed a six-week strike warning covering Easter and several May long weekend bank holidays.
The SUD-Rail union said it may call on members to walk out between April 17 and June 2, in response to a request from ticket inspectors and in protest at working conditions.
A préavis de grève (strike notice) has been filed but “at this time, no call for strike action has been made,” said the SUD-Rail union.
This period covers several public holidays including Easter Monday (April 21), Labour Day (May 1), Victory in Europe day (May 8), and Ascension (May 29).
The latter three all fall on Thursdays, meaning many people will try to use them to ‘faire le pont’ and create a four-day weekend by taking the Friday off work.
It also partially covers the holiday season of school zones B and C, as well as those of Zone A in its entirety.
Read more: Calendar: French school holidays for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026
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Other major rail unions in France have not yet stated whether they will also file strike motions for this time period.
Effects of potential strike unknown
Ticket inspectors are demanding better pay, with the union also asking for across-the-board increases of €100 in worker bonuses, and better commitments from the operator to respect working hours.
You can read the union’s press release below.
For its part, national rail operator SNCF said it was “in the dialogue phase... with the representatives of the representative trade unions,” as quoted in Le Figaro.
“There is a notice period to which, like all notice periods, we are paying close attention.
“Not all notice periods have consequences for passenger transport plans. There have already been notices in recent months, but these have had no impact,” it added.
At the same time, ticket inspectors belonging to the ASCT group behind this movement were at the forefront of major strikes during Christmas 2022, which disrupted the travel plans of millions looking to return home for the holiday season.
Read more: Photos: A look inside the new French TGV
