“We want a real salary increase for everyone! »
Almost no train was running on Wednesday departing from and arriving in Toulouse. Nationally, more than 30% of railway workers went on strike to demand a salary increase, frozen for 9 years. This loss of purchasing power is sometimes partially compensated by bonuses for certain trades, but the inflation which continues to increase, the cost of living, came to act as a trigger for many strikers. This day of strike made it possible to win 3.1% of median general salary increase, still far from the inflation figure.
“Everything increases except wages! »
“I took an average of €20 gross increase per year over 20 years, linked to my seniority, the rest is just a bonus”, explains S., a train driver. “Our company is in the image of society, with managers disconnected from the reality of the cost of living, a kind of middle class who gets by thanks to bonuses, in particular rolling stock (controllers and drivers). And then there are all those who do not have a bonus, those hired below the minimum wage, people who are in a real precarious situation, and we also go on strike in solidarity with these colleagues. Our situation is not enviable, but there are situations which are downright unfair, and which date from well before inflation. The distribution of wealth, within the SNCF as elsewhere, is actually unfair. »
L, worker at the technicentre, testifies: “Talking all week around me, I found that many colleagues felt concerned by this question of wages. Everything increases, we see it. Even those who are usually reluctant to strike have mobilized. In my sector we were nearly 80% strikers. »
“At the EIC where the agents have already mobilized this spring for salaries and hiring, the number of strikers was significant today”, attests B, switchman.
“This day was necessary, I managed to convince colleagues at the last moment”, adds F, who also works at the technicentre. “Everyone says it, the full has increased so it’s money that you don’t put elsewhere, you do less activity alongside work. This increase is really essential for us, we see that everything is increasing except our salaries. The 3.1% increase is a first step for us, we hadn’t obtained anything for a long time, but it’s not a victory. Especially since at the SNCF, the problem is not only the salary, it is also the lack of staff and the working conditions. »
S. highlights the risks associated with rail safety and the degradation of the service offered by the SNCF, direct consequences of the savings that the company seeks to make on the backs of railway workers: “A person in financial difficulty cannot take care of her, and it is incompatible with security missions like many professions at the SNCF. It impacts the quality of the work, it shows the company’s lack of consideration for the work we provide. SNCF is unable to protect its employees and, by extension, users. »
And at the end of this day, for B. as for the others, the results of the negotiation on wages are well below expectations: “This increase, which goes up to a maximum of 3.7% for certain sectors is outrageous, a far cry from the inflation figures. They throw crumbs at us. »
A day of strike: “But behind, what are we doing? »
For many strikers, the day of mobilization revealed a major contradiction, that of strong anger at the base but the absence of a battle plan for the future and the isolation of railway workers, who organize themselves by profession profession rather than all together.
“I’ve always hated square strikes, it only serves to be counted”, slice J, driver.
“A one-day mobilization allows you to put a lot of people on strike”, nuance S. “When you go to benefit locally and you like the colleagues behind the door, it gives a lot of strength. But behind what are we doing? If there’s no sequel, that’s the problem. In many places, a 24-hour strike means there is no GA, because no one sees the point of meeting and discussing if there is not the perspective behind building a balance of power, to build militant teams. »
“The problem in Toulouse is that we don’t have a demonstration, no rally, no GA, so we say we’re all leaving together, but we don’t talk to each other. The station is empty but you don’t see the railway workers”, regrets F.
“The consequences of the labor law and the rail reform in 2018 have gained a lot by isolating railway workers from each other. Inflation and the fear it will bring will highlight this. In Occitania we had a lot of local but isolated struggles, with a logic of “bounty hunters”, a kind of railway far west where no one wants to be the big loser. Colleagues were ready to go a long way, but in a disorganized manner, moving from the construction of a balance of power within the company to a balance of power by profession, in a logic of competition that was amplified by bonuses performance, individualized and individualizing. While what we are asking for is a real salary increase for everyone, we are fighting for the same thing. »
Coming out of isolation
For all the railwaymen from different trades who agreed to testify, the anger goes beyond the sole question of wages and the fight is played out beyond the walls of the SNCF. All of them rest their fight on the various sectors which are mobilizing on the question of wages recently.
“Today, either we accept a general impoverishment, because the loss of purchasing power is enormous, or we fight” declares S. mobilization in various forms in many sectors. We are in a context of extreme tension, between inflation, crisis, war… There is real concern, common to all. »
For L., the hope of a victorious fight comes from elsewhere: “I’ve been in the box for 20 years, 20 years that I’ve taken part in all the strikes. We, railway workers alone, will have difficulty in mobilizing much beyond us, but we have to link up with other sectors, it’s a shame that it doesn’t converge. For the moment it is sector by sector. The balance of power would be very different if the youth, who have nothing to lose and everything to gain, entered the battle for example. »
“Today I am not pessimistic because there is a whole new generation arriving in the club and who are aware of issues such as ecology, feminism, the fight against racism, which will come a wind of freshness and renewal,” concluded J.