Four French trade unions announced an unlimited strike starting on 11 December as a protest against the discontinuation of the state-owned rail freight operator Fret SNCF. Moreover, the first strike they called for 21 November was extended from 24 to 37 hours.
In other words, workers belonging to UNSA-Ferroviaire, CGT-Cheminots, SUD-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots, will first strike for three days between Wednesday 20 November at 7pm and Friday 22 November at 8 am. In addition, a new strike with no end date was called for 11 December.
The unions are demanding a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF. What they lament is that there still is significant uncertainty among workers about their future, especially considering that over 500 jobs have already been cut. The four unions are thus calling for members from all branches of the SNCF Group to strike, which could create significant disruptions along French railways, especially considering that the holiday period is coming up.
The end of Fret SNCF
The four French unions have been vocal against the fate of Fret SNCF. France’s government decided to kill the company and replace it with two new entities starting from 2025 to avoid heavy sanctions from the European Union. Fret SNCF, the European Commission said, enjoyed illegal state aid for quite some years, leading to market distortion. Instead of paying the money back, Fret SNCF will cease to exist and will be replaced by Hexafret, which will take care of carrying out rail freight services, and Technis, which will be tasked with locomotive maintenance.
Farmers protest too
Rail freight disruptions in France are not only caused by the imminent discontinuation of Fret SNCF and the consequent strikes. Farmers is the southwest recently threatened to block rail freight services carrying food shipments in south-west France later this month as they push for the State to provide financial support for the sector. They have called on members to protest outside State prefectures in the region on 19 November and will begin action the following day if the government has not agreed to their demands.