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Vol. 82/No. 17 April 30, 2018
France: Rail workers strike against government attacks
BY NAT LONDON
PARIS — An eerie silence settled over the deserted Gare de l’Est train
terminal here April 9, replacing the noisy hum of the hundreds of
thousands of passengers who normally crisscross the station daily. In a
wave of rolling strikes, railroad workers have been bringing much of
French transit — both freight and passenger service — to a halt.
Rail unions have called for two days on strike followed by three days of
work in a repeating cycle for the next three months. They are protesting
the French government’s plan to reorganize the SNCF national rail
system, targeting workers’ job rights. Currently rail workers have legal
protections against layoffs and firings, a result of decades of class
battles. These protections are commonly called “special status.” Under
the government’s plans, new hires would no longer have these
protections, creating a divisive two-tier system. Most rail workers fear
these steps will lead to deeper attacks.
The government of President Emmanuel Macron is going after the unions in
France and seeking other cutbacks to strengthen French capital and its
ability to compete and reap profits. They hadn’t expected the solidarity
of rail workers with the “new hires.”
Bondholders are increasingly worried about the fate of the SNCF’s 47
billion euro debt. Macron says that the government is willing to pick up
part of the debt — as long as the rail workers give up their hard-won
gains.
Rail workers held an April 13 strike meeting at Paris’ Gare du Nord, the
largest train station in Europe. Worker after worker spoke, demanding
the unions go beyond their call for two-day rolling strikes. Support for
this position was adopted by majority vote. The meeting also voted to
set up a strike fund to finance printing costs to reach passengers and
other workers. The strikers also discussed the possibility of uniting
their strike protests with actions taking place by other workers and
students.
One striker gave a report on the 44-day strike last December against
ONET company by mostly immigrant workers subcontracted to clean the
trains and rail stations in the north of Paris. These workers don’t have
“special status,” which is reserved for French citizens. “We should look
for convergence between our struggles and theirs,” she said. ONET
workers marched with the rail workers at the March 22 demonstration that
opened the current round of strikes.
Gauthier Tacchella is an engineer with eight years at the SNCF and a
member of the Strike Organization Bureau at Gare du Nord. He told the
Militant that they would be looking for common actions with hospital
workers, students and strikers at Carrefour, a Walmart-like chain in
France and elsewhere. The Strike Organization Bureau is a voluntary
association of strikers, both union members and nonunion, who do much of
the organizational work for the strike. A similar association called the
Mobilization Committee exists at the Gare de l’Est terminal.
Some 20,000 Carrefour workers went on a one-day nationwide strike March
31. The retail giant has a total workforce of 115,000. The strike was a
protest against boss plans to slash 5,200 workers this year and close
273 smaller stores. Many workers can’t get full-time work and face split
shifts and ever-changing schedules.
Marc Kinzel, who works in the port of Marseille, told the Militant that
his local Carrefour was barricaded by striking workers who had moved in
shopping carts to block access. “It wasn’t a normal French strike,” he
said, “It was more like a determined mobilization for dignity.”
After their meeting, strikers at Gare du Nord were joined by fellow rail
workers from Gare St Lazare, Gare de l’Est and Gare d’Austerlitz to
march across Paris to Tolbiac University. It’s one of a number of
campuses across the country where students have been occupying buildings
in opposition to government moves to “reform” university level education.
The two demonstrations — some 2,000 students and workers in about equal
numbers — came together, chanting, “Rail workers, students, same Macron,
same struggle.”
The night before, the police raided the Sorbonne to evict students
occupying the university center there.
Marc Kinzel in Marseille and Claude Bleton in Paris contributed to this
article.
Related articles:
Teachers mount fights against gov’t attacks
School protests inspire workers, set example
Workers in Puerto Rico resist attacks by US, colonial rulers
On the Picket Line
Norfolk Southern sues rail workers for crash damage
Colo. teachers rally at Capitol April 16, plan more actions
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