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| French rail workers stage 'Black Tuesday' protests against overhaul | French rail workers stage 'Black Tuesday' protests against overhaul |
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| French rail workers have launched three months of rolling train strikes in what threatens to become the largest and most chaotic industrial action against Emmanuel Macron’s drive to overhaul state transport and liberalise the economy. | French rail workers have launched three months of rolling train strikes in what threatens to become the largest and most chaotic industrial action against Emmanuel Macron’s drive to overhaul state transport and liberalise the economy. |
| Called “Black Tuesday” in the media, the opening day of train strikes was expected to cause disruption for France’s 4.5 million train passengers as almost half of all train staff and more than 75% of drivers walked out. | Called “Black Tuesday” in the media, the opening day of train strikes was expected to cause disruption for France’s 4.5 million train passengers as almost half of all train staff and more than 75% of drivers walked out. |
| Only one regional train in five and one high-speed TGV train out of eight was running. Commuter lines into Paris were severely affected, and international train services were cut, with no trains between France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain and only three out of four trains running on the Eurostar service connecting to London. | |
| Stoppages are planned across the country’s rail network for two days out of every five until 28 June. Unions are protesting against the centrist French president’s plan to push through sweeping changes to the vast state rail system. | |
| The rail sector is traditionally one of France’s riskiest political issues; a battleground on which Macron is refusing to budge in order to prove that he can face down strikes and continue with a liberalising overhaul of other sectors. | |
| The government argues that France’s heavily in debt state railway company, the SNCF, has to be made more efficient before local and national passenger services open up to competition in coming years under EU rules. | |
| The government intends to cut rail workers’ special employment rights, so that new hires would not have jobs for life or special retirement provisions. But there are also plans to change the SNCF structure, turning it into a publicly listed company. | The government intends to cut rail workers’ special employment rights, so that new hires would not have jobs for life or special retirement provisions. But there are also plans to change the SNCF structure, turning it into a publicly listed company. |
| Unions and politicians on the left fear this transformation into a publicly listed company – even with the state owning 100% of shares – could lead to the rail operator being privatised. The government denies it is paving the way for privatisation. | |
| “We’re defending the French public service, not just rail workers,” said Emmanuel Grondein, the head of Sud Rail, one of the four unions behind the industrial action. The Socialist Julien Dray warned of a veiled plan for “rampant privatisation”. | |
| The standoff has become a public relations battle that has hit at the heart of Macron’s programme. “We need to rid this country of its strike culture,” Gabriel Attal, a spokesman for Macron’s party, La République En Marche, said on Monday. | |
| Unions have bristled at suggestions by the government and Macron that rail workers enjoy unfair privileges with job-for-life guarantees, automatic annual pay rises and a generous early retirement policy. The prime minister had suggested that French people were not happy with the rail system, while rail workers argue they are protecting a state service. | |
| The government insist it is open to dialogue with unions. Ministers hope that such a long and disruptive strike will not be popular among the French public. A little more than half of French people view the strikes as unjustified, according to an Ifop poll published on Sunday. The government is focused on trying to keep public opinion onside. | The government insist it is open to dialogue with unions. Ministers hope that such a long and disruptive strike will not be popular among the French public. A little more than half of French people view the strikes as unjustified, according to an Ifop poll published on Sunday. The government is focused on trying to keep public opinion onside. |
| Previous suggestions of overhauling the SNCF have proved controversial, with the train network grinding to a virtual halt for weeks when trade unions opposed changes to rail staff’s benefits in 1995. Those strikes paralysed France and forced the then prime minister, Alain Juppé, to abandon the changes – a defeat that ultimately prompted Juppé to quit. | |
| Staff at Air France, who are pushing for salary changes, as well as refuse collectors and some energy workers staged separate strikes on Tuesday. | |
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| Emmanuel Macron | Emmanuel Macron |
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