Ascension Day or early June: should we expect new strikes at the SNCF in the coming weeks?

After the strike during the May 8th bank holiday , are we heading towards further disruptions at the SNCF? Several union organizations have recently raised the threat of future strikes to protest against the company's organization, or to obtain better pay. This is enough to worry travelers, many of whom take the train during the Ascension Day bank holiday or the Pentecost long weekend.

Interviewed on BFMTV this Thursday, May 22, the head of the railway company was firm, criticizing the threats of mobilization that hang over the coming weeks. "It bothers me a little, this sort of permanent sword of Damocles over the heads of the French, especially since we seem to have a certain pleasure in using it and brandishing it," declared Jean-Pierre Farandou . "These are not games, all this. The French, they need their train. When they go away for the weekend, they need to know, they need to organize themselves," he said angrily.

To gain a clearer picture, Le Figaro takes stock of the known threats and the disruptions that could occur between the end of May and the beginning of June.

Annoyed, the controllers promise that they "will not stop there" . During their previous mobilization at the beginning of May , led by SUD-Rail and the Collectif national ASCT (CNA) - an influential collective of controllers - the SNCF management had managed to limit the effects on train traffic by mobilizing many volunteer managers on the ground. This adaptation had been made possible by a call for a strike filed well in advance by SUD-Rail. These "occasional accompanying volunteers" were then described as "scab mercenaries" by the union's federal secretary, Fabien Villedieu.

This practice of the SNCF has aroused the ire of striking controllers, who recently stated in a leaflet that "the demands are still there." "Other calls for strikes will take place soon," they stated in a press release, adding that "follow-ups are coming [...] in less predictable forms." "We will announce the mobilization four days before the start of the strike," explained Fabien Villedieu. "We are no longer nice union organizations that announce our conflict well in advance. Now, we will do it at the last moment," he warned on LCI. This legal practice, the strikers only having the obligation to declare themselves at least 48 hours in advance in transport, and which aims to prevent the SNCF from organizing itself to limit the effect of the mobilization.

So far, the angry workers have not mentioned a specific strike date. True to their new approach, SUD-Rail and the National Collective ASCT (CNA) could wait until the last minute to announce it, for example, Sunday, May 25 or Monday, May 26, in the event of a hypothetical strike during the Ascension Day holiday.

Also read : "We won't stop there!": the controllers' collective and Sud-rail brandish the threat of a new strike at the SNCF

At the beginning of June, the CGT-Cheminots union intends to put pressure on SNCF management again. Several industrial action is planned. On June 4, the traction railway workers - the drivers - want to take action on the sidelines of a negotiation meeting with the company. "A round table discussion at the traction level is planned to address the issue of the traction bonus. The CGT is demanding a complete review of the calculation of the bonus. [...] This is why the CGT is calling on the traction railway workers to take action by striking on that day," the union stated in a press release .

The following day, Thursday, June 5 , the CGT-Cheminots union once again called on all professionals "from all trades, from all colleges" to strike, as part of an interprofessional movement "for our pensions, our jobs and our salaries." The objective: to obtain, in particular, an "immediate revaluation of pensions and retirement benefits of 10%," or even "the repeal of the 2023 pension reform and the return of the legal retirement age to 60."

Same old story a few days later. In a separate press release , the CGT-Cheminots union called on the controllers to go on strike on Wednesday, June 11, on the sidelines of a planned round table with management on "the work bonus." "The CGT's strategy has reinforced the need for all railway workers to mobilize together to win. [...] June 11: strike for our job!" the union wrote.

For now, it's impossible to say how widespread the mobilization will be. Since strikers must register at least 48 hours in advance, transportation plans will be unveiled two days before the action. Travelers will have to grit their teeth... and keep their fingers crossed.