Management offers railway workers a “purchasing power bonus” paid in December

As part of the negotiations on remuneration, the management of the SNCF begins to cut its cards. During a meeting on Wednesday, she notably proposed to the unions a “purchasing power bonus” paid in December, as well as measures that would come into force in 2022 or beyond.

At midday, several hundred railway workers demanding a “general increase in wages” had gathered at the call of an inter-union Unsa rail, SUD-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots in front of the SNCF headquarters in Saint- Denis in Seine-Saint-Denis, where this meeting was organized.

“Promote the signature” of unions

The amount of the “purchasing power bonus” will depend on whether or not a global agreement on remuneration “until December 10” is signed by unions with at least 50% union representativeness, unions said and The direction. In the event of “a 50% signature”, this bonus will reach 600 euros for salaries up to 1.5 Smic or 300 euros for those up to 3 Smic, while “in the absence of a signature”, the premium will drop to 500 euros for salaries up to 1.5 Smic or 250 euros for those up to 2.5 Smic.

Management has also conditioned other proposals on the signing of the agreement, such as an annual increase in the “work bonus” intended for “all employees” which will increase by 220 euros gross per year with signature against 200 euros without signature. , or even a “revaluation of low wages” which will benefit 61,000 employees in the event of signature against 30,000 without signature. For management, “it is important to promote the signature of trade unions”.

For SUD-Rail, “the account is not there”

At Unsa rail, these proposals are considered “encouraging”. “The group has made efforts, it has heard the anger of the employees,” said Florent Monteilhet, deputy secretary general of the second representative union of the SNCF, which will “consult its structures” to decide whether to sign the agreement. SUD-Rail considers on the contrary that “the account is not there”. For 2021, there is “nothing on wages”, criticizes in particular in a leaflet the third union of the group, whose members “will decide on the follow-up to be given to these announcements”. The CFDT-Cheminots announces for its part that before questioning its structures and making a decision, it will wait for negotiations on the remuneration planned this month in the company, then in the railway branch.

In addition to the inter-union rally, SUD-Rail called a strike on Wednesday, as did the CGT-Cheminots, the group’s first union. A movement that disrupted the traffic of regional trains, while that of long-distance trains was normal.