3 days ago
French rail union files strike notice for entire summer
The French union Sud-Rail, which represents railway staff, announced on Wednesday that they had filed a strike notice beginning on Thursday, June 12th at 7pm, which will last until Monday, September 1st at 8am, Franceinfo
reported
.
The union has said that they are demanding an immediate increase in their work bonus, to "take into account the constraints of the job", and they have denounced the working conditions of ticket inspectors, particularly related to scheduling.
When could strikes take place?
The strike notice does not mean a constant three-month strike, but it means that Sud-Rail can call a strike at short notice at any time within that period.
"We'll decide at some point to call a strike," the head of Sud-Rail, Julien Troccaz, told RMC.
"It's a certain amount of pressure, and we accept that; it's a power struggle that's established within the company," he added.
Even with a strike notice in place, French rail workers must declare their intention to strike at least 48 hours in advance.
A source from Sud-Rail told France Inter that they intended to give the public five days' notice before the start of strike days.
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Previously, the union had lamented SNCF's (French national rail services) use of company volunteers to replace striking workers during strike action at the start of May. As a result, the strikes were not as disruptive as union officials had hoped.
At the start of the month, the union told the French press that they were planning "less predictable actions", in order to avoid management relying on volunteer reserve workers.
What about other unions?
The French CGT union has called for ticket inspectors to walk out on June 11th, but so far there is no indication that other unions (or Sud-Rail) will join in this industrial action.
