Despite the continuing strikes, the Assemblée
approved a partial reform of SNCF, the French state rail company. In response, the trade unions have hardened their position. In spite of this, it seems that there are fewer strikers than last week. The SNCF is guaranteeing
200 TGVs on the two strike days this week (Wednesday and Thursday) instead of the regular 700. The trains will be driven by non-strikers and office staff who are trained as train drivers. Last weekend, fewer people were
on strike than earlier this month.
Cost
The strikes have already cost the French railways
100 million euro, while the tourism sector claims the conflict will cost them
400 million euros. The employees refusing to work are also losing money: they are not paid a salary on their strike days and receive only a small allowance from the trade union fund. Because their pockets are almost empty, they have set up a crowdfunding campaign. In France, such action would not be complete
without the support of well-known intellectuals. At the time of this newsletter being sent out, they will have already raised almost
eight hundred thousand euros. The money will be given to the strikers.
Tit for tat
On the
Metz-Luxembourg railway line, the passengers gave the train-workers a taste of their own medicine. To protest against the many technical incidents and the low frequency of commuter trains, they refused
to show their tickets. Every day
almost 100,000 French people travel to the neighbouring country of Luxembourg to work there. Often the salaries there are thousands of euros higher than in their own country, for the same work. The connections between the two regions are mediocre: public transport is bad, and in the morning and evening the roads between the two countries are paralysed by
long traffic jams.