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STRIKES

Strike to ‘strongly disturb’ Parisian bus and tram services on Monday

Strikes over working conditions means that bus and tram lines in the French capital will be running at 60 percent capacity on Monday, with further disruption expected later in the week.

Strikes will see tram and bus lines operating at a significantly reduced capacity in Paris on Monday.
Strikes will see tram and bus lines operating at a significantly reduced capacity in Paris on Monday. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

A fresh wave of strikes at the RATP – the company responsible for operating public transport in Paris – will result in widespread disruption on Monday. 

While Metro and RER services will run as normal, bus and tram services will operate at a significantly reduced capacity. 

In a notice to passengers published on Sunday evening, the RATP said that some bus lines would be closed completely. Only two out of three buses will run on the lines that remain open during the daytime. The night bus service will run as normal. 

On average, three out of five trams will run on Monday. 

Normal traffic is expected on tramlines T5, T6 and T7. 

On T1, only one out of two trams will run, with a ten minute interval between each shuttle. The line will only run between Gare de Noisy and Gare de Gennevilliers. Operation times are limited to 06:00-11:00 and 15h:00-20:00. 

On T2, only one out of two trams will run during rush hour. The line will connect Porte de Versailles and Puteaux with shuttles running every ten minutes during rush hour and every 20 minutes outside of this. Between Pont de Bezons and Charlebourg, shuttles will run every five minutes during rush hour and every fifteen minutes outside of this. 

T3a will operate one out of every two trams, exclusively between Pont du Garigliano and Porte d’Italie. The line will run from 06:30-11:00 and 16:30-21:00. 

T3b will operate half of all trams, exclusively between Porte de Vincennes and Porte de la Chapelle. Traffic will only run from 06:00-10:30 and 15:30-20:00. 

The T8 line is by far the most disrupted with only one in every four trams running. The line will only operate between Saint-Denis – Porte de Paris et Epinay–Orgemont. Trams will run between 06:00-10:00 and 16:00-20:00. 

Further strike action is expected on Wednesday, although RATP are yet to disclose the scale of that later disruption. 

What is behind the strikes? 

Bus and tram workers are striking over proposed plans to open up RATP services to subsidiary companies, with changes to working conditions.

As of January 1st, 2025, all bus will be transferred to the subsidiaries or competing companies who won bids issued by the regional transport authority, Île-de-France Mobilités. 

RATP plans to put the new working conditions into effect – those that would have been set to apply in 2025 – as early as July. These changes would impact at least 18,000 drivers. 

Specifically, drivers will fall under the “territorial social framework” (CST), the minimum legal framework for working hours, which will require 35 hours of work per week (and 37 hours per week for select drivers). Currently, the RATP’s rules regarding working hours are more advantageous, with the average driver working 33 hours a week (excluding overtime and travel time). 

Union management has been fighting against these proposed changes for over a year, having already held a strike March 25th, which impacted over 30 percent of bus lines in the Paris region.

Now, they calling for mobilisation to “defend their working conditions” again.

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STRIKES

How the public sector strike will hit France on Tuesday

Public sector workers – including school staff and nurses – across France are set to strike on Tuesday after unions called for walkouts in a protest over pay and the rising cost of living.

How the public sector strike will hit France on Tuesday

In a joint statement, the CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FA, FO, FSU, Solidaires and UNSA unions said: “We urgently need to open negotiations to improve career prospect and take general measures to improve pay, in particular by raising the index point, at a time when public sector pay levels are collapsing.”

The inter-union group wishes to “put an end to the spiral of stigmatisation and devaluation of all civil servants”.

Mobilisations will take place across the country. In Paris, the march will start at 2pm, departing from the Luxembourg Gardens.

Unions representing civil servants are calling for “an immediate 10 percent increase in the value of the index point, and the recovery of purchasing power lost since January 2000”.

School staff are set on strike this Tuesday in primary schools, collèges (secondary/middle schools) and lycées (high schools). In some areas, such as the Loire-Atlantique, they are expected to remain closed through to the end of the week.

Meanwhile, school canteens may not provide lunches and parents will be obliged to provide a picnic lunch, while creches and day-care centres may remain closed. 

In France, primary school teachers must give 48 hours notice before walking out, while secondary school teachers are not required to give any notice.

Independent nurses will also be on the streets this Tuesday, with rolling road blockades (operation escargot) organised in Caen (Calvados), Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) and Montpellier (Hérault).

The Syndicat National des Infirmiers et Infirmiers Libéraux, which represents self-employed nurses, has demanded an increase in fees for their services, some of which have not increased since 2009, reimbursements for business expenses, including fuel for travel, and have called for greater efforts to improve working conditions.

There are 5.7 million public sector (fonction publique) workers across France.

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