“We gave everything so that today at noon we can say that this draft agreement will allow us to save the New Year’s weekend, that is our objective through this agreement.” This Friday, the president of SNCF Voyageurs, Christophe Fanichet, was confident in France Inter about the positive outcome of the discussions, after the meeting that took place on Thursday with the unions.
A response from the unions is expected this afternoon
SNCF management proposed “additional measures” during a videoconference meeting on Thursday night with the unions to find a way out of the conflict. They have until noon on Friday to sign the new agreement and thus lift the strike notices that threaten New Year’s weekend.
The SNCF proposed in particular the creation of a “management for captains to be more vigilant tomorrow than today”, Christophe Fanichet specified.
“We had a listening device which was perhaps a bit insufficient,” he admitted as more than a thousand captains will be on strike over Christmas weekend, causing one train in three to be canceled on Friday and two out of five on Saturday. . and Sunday. “We decided to put 200 additional jobs in 2023”, continued Christophe Fanichet. In addition, the specific bonus for skippers has been increased from 600 euros to 720 euros.
Finally, controllers also called for smoother career paths and higher salary progression. “We decided yesterday the guarantees for this progression”, assured Christophe Fanichet. “The measures are very strong,” he insisted. “The unions came up with extremely tangible things that I think should win their deal,” he hoped.
“We gave it our all”
It remains to be seen if this agreement will be accepted by the unions. The CGT-Cheminots, SUD-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots, which are not calling for a strike, nevertheless maintained their notice over Christmas and New Year weekends to allow controllers who wish to go on strike.
The controllers mobilized within a collective formed on Facebook outside of any union framework. But for several days, the collective has been unreachable and has left the conduct of the negotiations in the hands of the unions.
This agreement proposal, however, seems to be the last to hear from Christophe Fanichet.
If the unions say no at noon, “there is no more draft agreement,” he warned.
Source: BFM TV
