the mobilization of railway workers continues in Ile-de-France

Determined! One hundred and eighty railway workers met on Tuesday, October 18 at the end of platform 36, Gare du Nord, for an interdepartmental General Assembly. And without hesitation, these SUD-Rail, CGT and FO activists voted to renew the strike. The watchword adopted on Monday – SUD-Rail and FO started the movement at the very beginning of the week –, namely “500 euros monthly increase”, added another: “No salary below 2,000 euros”.

In the Paris region, we feel the pinch of inflation even more than elsewhere. The mobilization is very strong at the Landy technicentre, in Seine-Saint-Denis. According to SUD-Rail, which is very well represented in this “factory” where Eurostar, Thalys and TGV trains are maintained and pass a battery of tests, 480 agents out of 500 were declared strikers. “The site is closed”notes Denis Hoffmann, SUD-Rail driver in Pontoise, Ile-de-France. “They do a difficult job, with wages a little higher than the minimum wage: when you repair an axle, you’re in the grease and it’s complicated. Inflation eats everything”.

As of Tuesday morning, the strikers of this center had voted to renew the movement. When the management asks them to wait for the professional elections at the end of November to start negotiating wages, they pretend not to understand anything about the kitchen of the union discussions with the management: “It is the railway workers who are on strike and who are waiting for answers”swings Stéphane Grand, SUD-Rail, responsible for the electrical maintenance of Eurostar, Thalys, InOui, Ouigo and even technical trains that control and open high-speed lines. “There is money at the SNCF: we were told 1 billion in profits in the first half. “900 million”corrects the HRD of the SNCF, François Nogué, for whom the two salary increases already granted will cost 500 million euros.

More strikers

In Paris and the Paris region, the mobilization was strong and continues this Wednesday, due to tensions over purchasing power and housing in Ile-de-France. Chronic understaffing (especially on the RER B North line, where resignations are increasing), recruitment difficulties, the abolition of stations or the reduction of night hours for rail safety are fueling claims. Disturbances will also continue, with one train in two Wednesday, October 19 on the RER D and the northern portion of the RER B, as well as on the transiliens H, R and U.

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