Put yourself in order of battle and anticipate any social movement that could jeopardize the organization of the Olympic Games in Paris next year. This is the objective of the transport operators and in particular of the SNCF which will be at the heart of the system.
The SNCF first seeks to strengthen its workforce. Which is not an easy task since it plans to hire no less than 7,300 people this year compared to 6,145 last year. In addition to the needs of the Olympic Games, it is a matter of revaluing the workforce cut by departures, sick leave or even absenteeism.
In addition to the technical professions in which the SNCF continues to recruit a lot (drivers, train and track maintenance, traffic, etc.), this year other profiles are being sought in large numbers: commercial professions, railway safety, information systems engineers or even medical staff.
Trades but no negotiations yet
It is difficult to say if these objectives will be met (because the company is having a hard time recruiting) but another issue is beginning to worry the management of the operator: the management of schedules because the Olympics fall, as usual, in the summer break.
How to mobilize labor? How to ensure that a maximum of employees are present (and therefore change their summer holidays for some)? How, finally, to rule out any risk of social unrest during this period?
According the parisianSNCF would reflect on the principle of a bonus or “compensatory support for railway workers who agree to postpone their summer holidays to be fully available between July 26 and August 11, 2024”.
According to our information, for the moment, the SNCF is testing the ground with the unions. Unsa-Rail confirms “exchanges” on this subject but “no negotiations at this time”. Same response from Sud-Rail confirming that “negotiations are planned (on this issue) but have not started yet.”
According to a union representative quoted by our colleagues, as things stand, this bonus would be worth “much less” than the 450 euros that the RATP pays to bus drivers, with the management facing the same problems of personnel shortages. than the SNCF.
Contacted by us, SNCF confirms these initial conversations. “We are currently discussing with the unions about methods of support for employees who will be mobilized for the July-August 2024 Olympic Games. We have no further details to pass on at this stage.”
A “crazy idea” for the CGT
On BFMTV, Béranger Cernon, a trade unionist and former CGT general secretary of the railway workers at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, considers this idea “absurd and has no place.” “People would do it without any problem if there really was social dialogue in the company, if the environment was good. Today the reality is that we have a real recruitment problem at SNCF, we have had frozen wages for more than 8 years. .”
“The SNCF must first re-motivate its troops”, adds Fabien Villedieu, General Delegate of Sud-Rail, “today it is having difficulties recruiting and resigning, it is necessary to increase salaries in the SNCF. This bonus issue has at least one merit is that it recognizes that there is a problem of attractiveness in the SNCF”.
“They are not going to buy us with a premium”
But in addition to the current presence of the staff, the public company also seeks to avoid any strike during the Olympic Games, which would have disastrous consequences for the organization but above all for the image of Paris and France.
In addition to this bonus, the SNCF intends to base itself on the Social Charter of the Olympic Games signed by the five main unions and the organizers. This letter involved the unions from the beginning of the organization of the event, in its management and government, for the first time.
Commitments have been made, in particular, to ensure “social exemplary status” on construction sites, for example, with the employers and companies involved. In return, does the government expect the unions to avoid any tension during this crucial period?
Nothing is less secure. “They are not going to buy us with a bonus,” says Béranger Cernon, “today we broke our status, we broke our pensions and they are going to explain to us that they really need us and that we will have to come.” scratching all summer, that’s not how it works”, stresses the trade unionist who does not rule out social unrest during the Olympic Games.
Source: BFM TV
