French rail unions call for strike on 21 November, and it might only be the beginning

“It’s time for conflict at SNCF”. This is how four French rail trade unions began their note announcing a 24-hour general strike for Thursday, 21 November to protest against the discountuity of Fret SNCF. The unions are calling for a general mobilisation involving workers from all branches of the SNCF Group, saying this is only an ultimatum which might lead to more dire consequences.

The four French unions are UNSA Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail, CGT-Cheminots and CFDT-Cheminots. “This 24-hour day strike will be the only ultimatum we launch to the government and to the management of SNCF. If they don’t meet our demands, we will launch a longer and stronger strike movement in December”, the joint note threatened.

The main of the three demands brought forward by the three unions are the halting of the discontinuation of Fret SNCF. Moreover, the unions are asking for a stop to the privatisation of TER (Regional Express Trains), Transilien (the commuter network in the Paris area) and Intercités (non-high-speed services). Finally, they want a “multiannual programming law for the modernisation of the rail system”.

The end of Fret SNCF

The French state-owned rail freight operator found itself in a pickle when the European Commission established that it enjoyed unfair State Aid from its mother company, the SNCF group. In order to avoid harsher sanctions from the European institutions, the French government, towards the end of 2023, decided to start a massive restructuring process, which led to rail routes being given away to private competitors and hundreds of jobs being lost.

In addition, Fret SNCF will cease to exist as of 1 January 2025 and will be replaced by two entities, Hexafret and Technis, which will respectively pick up operations and locomotive maintenance duties.

This ‘forced choice’ was far from being warmly welcomed by parts of the sectors, especially trade unions. They voiced their opinions against the discontinuation of Fret SNCF since the beginning, never hiding their openness to strike. It now remains to be seen what the impact of this first strike will be and whether it will lead to ‘hot’ December for the French rail industry.