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Macron on verge of French rail reform victory as strikes continue

In launching his plan to overhaul France's heavily-indebted state rail operator SNCF earlier this year, President Emmanuel Macron knew he was taking aim at a bastion of labour unions which have long defied a range of government reform efforts.

Published: 12 June 2018 15:40 CEST
Macron on verge of French rail reform victory as strikes continue
Photo: AFP
Yet on Tuesday, the 40-year-old centrist was just days from enshrining into law changes which analysts have compared with Margaret Thatcher's taking on British mining unions in the 1980s.
   
The final text of the SNCF reform, which the government says is needed to cut costs and improve flexibility ahead of the opening of the EU passenger rail market to competition, was approved by lawmakers on Monday.
   
The National Assembly, where Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) party has a solid majority, will vote Wednesday, followed by a final vote in the Senate on Thursday.
   
“The government has committed itself to our rail industry as no other has before us,” Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne told Franceinfo radio, referring to pledges for debt relief and infrastructure investments.
 
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French railway workers demonstrate under the Grande Arche de la Defense on June 12th. Photo: AFP

“I now urge the unions to assume their responsibilities,” she said.

Rail workers have staged weeks of rolling strikes against the plans, vowing to walk off the job two days out of every five until June 28.
   
They are fighting in particular a move to deny job and pension guarantees to new hires, along with plans to turn the SNCF into a joint-stock company, which they consider a first step toward privatisation.
   
Yet polls have consistently shown that the unions have failed to win the battle of public opinion, with nearly 60 percent of respondents saying the strikes are unjustified.
   
The SNCF itself tallies the cost of the strikes since early April at more than 400 million euros ($470 million).
   
Union leaders have warned the government against claiming victory too early, with some hinting that strikes could be extended into the key summer vacation season. 
   
“Rail workers will decide what to do based on what we obtain, but for now I can solemnly say that this strike is far from over,” said Philippe Martinez of the CGT, France's biggest union among public-sector workers. 
 
Demonstrating rail workers at La Defense on June 12th. Photo: AFP
 
'This changes everything' 
 
Despite Tuesday's “day of rail anger” that caused a spike in delays and cancellations for France's 4.5 million daily rail passengers, the number of striking workers has steadily tapered off in recent weeks.
   
The SNCF said 17.6 percent of workers took part on Tuesday — down from around 34 percent in April — although 53 percent of train drivers walked off the job.
   
Yet union leaders can claim to have secured guarantees for existing staff including job security if they take a position with one of the new operators arriving in France, and a government pledge to take on 35 billion euros of SNCF debt.
   
And unions already appear to tacitly accept an end to job-for-life and early retirement benefits for new hires, agreeing to meet government officials Friday for talks on a new collective labour agreement.
   
And having refused to back down on the key elements of his plan, Macron may have cleared his path for tricky reforms to France's strained pension system and vast public sector.
  
“For Emmanuel Macron and (Prime Minister) Edouard Philippe, this political victory against a fortress long deemed unassailable changes everything,” the rightwing Figaro newspaper wrote in a front-page editorial.
   
“Along with the reform of the labour code, the SNCF reform shows that France is not hopelessly condemned to stagnation,” it added.
 
By AFP's Joseph Schmid
 

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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