The four major French railway unions—CGT Cheminots, UNSA-Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail, and CFDT Cheminots—are threatening a major strike in June, accusing SNCF management of refusing to address deteriorating working conditions, wage pressures, and the group’s increasing fragmentation. In a joint statement, the unions say they are ready to escalate the conflict if management does not quickly make concrete commitments.
The unions claim that relations with SNCF management have reached a major breaking point and accuse management of ignoring employees’ concerns.
At the heart of the criticism are internal reorganizations, job cuts, and the tendency to push the group toward a model in which each subsidiary or business unit—such as SNCF Voyageurs (passengers) or SNCF Réseau (infrastructure manager)—ends up operating by its own rules.
Unions accuse the SNCF group of fragmentation
Union organizations say they will not accept a situation where, on paper, all railway workers belong to the same group, while in practice, working conditions and rules differ increasingly from one entity to another.
They accuse management of allowing the development of veritable “local fiefdoms” that ignore collective agreements and national regulations. According to the unions, this trend is breaking up the workforce, creating social insecurity, and weakening the common rules that should apply to all railway workers in the SNCF group.
Unions criticize both competition and the group’s fragmentation into an increasing number of subsidiaries
Another central point of the statement is the unions’ criticism of competition and the group’s fragmentation into an increasing number of subsidiaries. In the text, the unions argue that this strategy is not only a social problem but also an economic and industrial failure.
The unions also cite a recent report by the Finance Committee of the French Senate, which reportedly criticized the effects of competition in the Voyageurs sector, after, according to them, subcontracting to SNCF Réseau has already proven problematic. The unions’ message is that SNCF employees end up bearing the costs of a policy that even institutional experts say is disruptive and costly for the public.
Inflation and wages at the heart of the conflict
The four union federations also link the mobilization to the issue of wages. They assert that the current international context is once again fueling inflation and directly undermining the purchasing power of railway workers.
For this reason, the unions are demanding the immediate resumption of high-level wage negotiations and warn that there will be no social peace as long as management refuses to recognize the value of employees’ work and qualifications.
Three main demands
In the joint statement, the unions set out three main demands: The four federations announced that they have initiated the official conciliation procedure (Demande de Concertation Immédiate), the formal step preceding a potential labor dispute.
- a moratorium on reorganizations and job cuts;
- maintaining the same rules for all railway workers, by applying all agreements across the entire group;
- the immediate resumption of wage negotiations.
Strike in June
The unions say they have initiated this procedure with the clear intention of calling on railway workers to stage a mass strike if management does not announce concrete, precise, and officially committed measures.
The four organizations are calling for mobilization across all units and regions and warn that, in the absence of a response commensurate with the situation, SNCF management will bear sole responsibility for a widespread strike in June across the entire company.
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