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LATEST: French rail passengers face Christmas travel misery with half of TGV trains hit by strikes

Train strikes will hit the big Christmas getaway weekend in France, rail chiefs announced on Tuesday as defiant unions so far refused to call a seasonal truce despite pressure from government and passengers.

Published: 17 December 2019 16:15 CET
LATEST: French rail passengers face Christmas travel misery with half of TGV trains hit by strikes
Photo: AFP

French rail operator SNCF announced on Friday that only around 50-60 percent of high-speed TGV trains will run this weekend from Friday December 20th to Sunday 22nd.

SNCF said they were expecting to transport around 850,000 people around France this weekend on TGV trains – some 53 percent of those who initially booked tickets. 

READ ALSO Unions threaten power cuts across France as strikes continue

The weekend marks the start of the school holidays when many families in France were due to head away for Christmas week. 

Holidaymakers and workers in France's main cities who also head away en masse for the winter break had hoped the unions, striking against pension reforms, would announce a winter truce to allow train services to return to normal.

“There have been no Christmas truces declared,” said the SNCF's Rachel Picard on Tuesday. She said she expected between 60 and 70 percent of SNCF trains drivers to be on strike over the weekend.

Tuesday was considered the last day for the unions to call a truce to allow services to return to normal before Christmas, however barring an 11th-hour change of heart by the unions the strikes look set to go on.

Unions were clear where they think the blame lied for the Christmas travel misery.

“Nobody wants to mess up Christmas, not the strikers nor workers nor the French who want to be with their families,” Laurent Escure of the UNSA union told France 2 television.

“But this is entirely the government's fault.”

The government too shows no sign of backtracking with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe saying on Tuesday ministers were “determined” to push ahead with an overhaul of France's pension system.

The two sides will meet for more talks on Wednesday.

“My determination, and that of the government and the majority, is total,” Philippe told parliament, as tens of thousands took to the streets to march against plans to create a unified pension system.

In some good news for passengers SNCF said they would be able to guarantee that almost all low-cost Ouigo trains.

Those due to travel on December 23rd or over Christmas will have to wait to see how their trains are affected with SNCF due to make further announcements of travel plans on Thursday.

 

 

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
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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