Abolition of posts and counters in Normandy: the SNCF project goes badly
Through Mathieu Normand
Published on
Job cuts, more versatility in the tasks of agents, closing of counters… Presented in September 2022 for entry into force in April 2023, a Rouen station reorganization project and stations on the North axis, carried by the SNCF subsidiary Stations & connectionsmeets theopposition from staff representatives.
The latter rely, to support their position, on a report delivered in December by an expert firm at the request of elected members of the social and economic committee (CSE) of TER Paris-Normandy.
“A social plan in disguise”
The aim of this Rouen station “trimming” project, which has consequences for the agents working in the stations of Vernon, Gaillon-Aubevoye, Val-de-Reuil, Oissel, Le Havre, Auffay, Fécamp, Elbeuf or Dieppeis to transfer more skills to Gares & connexion and prepare for the opening up to competition.
Three experts from the Degest firm dissected the SNCF project document. They also met in a short time with 51 people, including 41 agents, and consulted additional documentation to understand the work environment. The result is not tender.
“Without clearly expressed objectives”, “without organizational principles” and responding “to a logic of cost control” with a reduction in sales agents and stopovers, new hours at the counters, as well as partial closures of counters in Oissel or even definitive in Gaillon, Auffay and Elbeuf. “The company took the opportunity to set up a kind of social plan”, assures Charlotte Jereczek, elected from the CGT.
38 positions affected by deletions
Gares & Connexion justifies these changes in particular by the drop in physical ticket sales and nevertheless sets general objectives, those of “recovering attendance on board the TER Nomad and contributing to the development of the transport offer of 20 % by 2025 and 23% additional revenue in 2029 as included in the conventional objectives for the Normandy region”.
Around 38 positions are affected by cuts to sales and stopovers. “Today, out of around forty unfilled positions, recalls Mathieu Villela, secretary of the CGT union, master and SNCF-Rouen executive. But we have fixed-term contracts that fill these vacancies. Removing them will shift the workload to the agents. The trade unionist indicates that “80 interviews to find out if the railway workers want to move or take a position that is recreated elsewhere” are planned.
Schedule changes also risk making some people more precarious, recalls the Degest report, with the end of night services.
Future social movements?
In addition to its social impact, “there is no objective in this project to improve service for travelers and users”, assures Matthieu Vilela. “We even see that we are in a regression position. The announced changes in any case question the associations of travelers, such as the association for the defense of users of the Norman rail (Adurn).
Its president Karine Courteaud is concerned about the “strong impact” that the closures of the counter, the opening of certain services such as PMR reception to subcontractors, the reduction in staff or even multi-skills will have on service to users. to the requested agents. “When a driver has a problem on his train and there are no more stopover agents, he is the one who will have to manage on his own?, she asks, for example. We will end up with longer procedures and isolated field agents. By dint of removing links from the chain, there is no longer any chain. »
The reorganization project has already canceled two “epidermal” strikes at Le Havre and Rouen stations when the project was announced. “These social movements are less visible because the strikes of these agents do not directly impact traffic,” says Mathieu Vilela. The challenge could however grow in the coming weeks, in inter-union form, even if the agenda is already busy with pension reform. the trade unionists also approached the mayors of the left bank, who wrote letters to the SNCF.
Requested, Gares & connexion and the Normandy Region did not wish to answer our questions on the subject.
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