Trade unions at France's railway operator SNCF have called for an indefinite strike from next month that could disrupt train services during the upcoming Christmas holidays.
The unions are demanding a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF, the national rail operator's freight division.
They are also protesting against the terms and conditions for opening up regional lines to competition, as required under EU legislation.
In a joint statement to AFP, the CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots unions said the action would begin on 11 December.
The unions also reiterated their call for shorter strike action from 20-22 November.
Industrial action at SNCF has repeatedly disrupted travel during school holidays.
In February, train controllers went on strike during a holiday weekend, leaving 150,000 people stranded. A Christmas strike in December 2022 affected some 200,000 holidaymakers.
Rail strike set to paralyse SNCF operations on first weekend of Christmas season
In 2023, the European Commission carried out an in-depth investigation into whether France breached EU rules on state support by subsidising the freight division of SNCF to the tune of €5.3 billion between 2007 and 2019.
As a result, the French government launched a restructuring process which will see France's top rail freight company disappear on 1 January, 2025 and be replaced by two separate companies – Hexafret and Technis.
Both companies will operate under Rail Logistics Europe, an SNCF subsidiary, and are expected to generate some €700 million in revenue by 2025 – a figure comparable to Fret SNCF’s 2023 earnings.
The plan was negotiated by the French government and the European Commission to avoid a reorganisation procedure that could have led to the outright liquidation of the company, which employs 5,000 people.
In their statement, the trade unions "reaffirm that a moratorium is possible and necessary to allow the various players to get back to the table and find ways of guaranteeing not only the continuity of Fret SNCF, but also its development over the longer term".
(- with AFP)
