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STRIKES

Start of week of rolling transport strikes in France

Strikes on railways and in airports in France began on Thursday, the beginning of several different strikes called for the start of July.

Start of week of rolling transport strikes in France
Trains and airports are set to be hit by strikes in July. Photo: DENIS CHARLET / AFP.

Who is going on strike?

Three groups have so far called for strike action at the beginning of July, designed to coincide with the first part of the holiday getaway.

The CGT union has called for a national strike on the railways on Thursday July 1st. Since the strike only involves a single union it is unlikely to cause widespread disruption of the type seen during the mass transport strikes of December 2019 and January 2020, and reported disruptions so far are low.

SNCF said services are “quasi normal” on Thursday, with TGV and Intercité running as normal, and some disruption on the local TER trains. International services like Eurostar, Thalys and Lyria are running as normal.

International travel could also be impacted due to an airport workers’ strike. All trade unions representing workers at the Aéroports de Paris (Charles de Gaulle-Roissy and Orly airports) are calling for a strike between July 1st and July 5th. Union representatives said they chose the July date, as it is the first weekend of mass departures for the summer holidays.

There are no flight cancellations reported due to this action.

Three transport unions have called for workers on the Ouigo budget high-speed trains to go on strike over the weekend of July 3rd and 4th. They are Unsa-Ferroviaire, CFDT-Cheminots, and SUD-Rail. This will not affect regular TGV services, Intercité lines or TER local train services and suburban routes.

SNCF says its Ouigo routes will b “slightly adapted” over the weekend to allow for the strike action, but that 100 percent of customers will be able to travel.

July 1st also represents the planned start date for vaccine passports within the EU, meaning the strike will impact fully vaccinated people hoping to take advantage of relaxed travel restrictions within the Bloc.

Why are they striking?

The goal of the Ouigo strike is to protest “deteriorating working conditions”, and to ask for a one-off bonus to recognise railway workers’ contributions during the pandemic, as reported by Le Parisien.

In a joint press release, the three unions distanced themselves from the July 1st action, telling workers not to join a “catch-all strike”.

Among the CGT’s demands are a pay rise and an end to outsourcing within the SNCF. “For our salaries, our jobs, our rights, for a protected status for all railway workers – everyone on strike!” they said.

The airport strike meanwhile follows a dispute over contract renegotiations. Unions say the plans outlined by Aéroports de Paris will lead to lower pay, job losses, and a reduction in workers’ rights.

French vocab

Les cheminots – railway workers

Un syndicat – a trade union

Appeler à la grève – to call for a strike

Une revendication – a demand

Une hausse des salaires – a pay rise

Les conditions de travail – working conditions

If you get caught up in the strikes, find some more useful vocabulary here.

Member comments

  1. Considering the country is in a financial mess, I would have thought the unions should be working to get it back on it’s feet instead of striking but there again, I’m still waiting for my unicorn to be delivered Brexit promised me.

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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.

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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