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Wildcat French rail strike to hit Toussaint holiday weekend

Wildcat French rail strikes which have hit TGV services look set to cause disruption throughout the Toussaint holiday weekend with passengers warned their travel plans for the long weekend could be ruined.

Published: 30 October 2019 08:57 CET

Wildcat French rail strike to hit Toussaint holiday weekend

Photo: AFP

Rail services between Paris and cities in western France were once again disrupted on Wednesday with some 70 percent of TGV trains on the “Atlantic line” cancelled.

That mean passengers travelling between western cities like Bordeaux, Rennes and Nantes and the capital Paris faced huge travel disruption.

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The disruption has been caused by a wildcat strike at a maintenance depot near Paris, which could just be the start of weeks if not months of unpredictable industrial action by SNCF workers.

The strikes now look set to cause misery for the thousands of workers booked to go away over the long holiday weekend, known as Toussaint (All Saints), which begins with Friday's public holiday.

SNCF are mobilising staff and extra trains to try to ensure disruption is minimised and hope to run 80 percent of TGV services over the long weekend.

The rail operator will reportedly put TGV trains that usually serve other parts of the country to use on the busy the Atlantic line.

But scores passengers fearing they will end up stranded by the strike and unable to return have already decided to cancel their trips.

“We are going to stay in Paris, we won't be going to see the grandparents. We are disappointed,” one passenger named Estelle told Europe1 radio.

Nevertheless the strike has been good news for car hire companies, which have seen a boost in the number of customers booking vehicles for the weekend.

READ MORE: Why train strikes in France look set to worsen this winter

Member comments

Anonymous - 30 October 2019 at 09:05 CET

Would help if you provided dates?

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German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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