The strike movement in France: interviews and reports... Paris railworkers

Submitted by martin on 26 October, 2010 - 12:48 Author: Martin Thomas

Rémy is a train driver at the Gare du Nord in Paris, and Guillaume is a member of station staff at the Gare d'Austerlitz.

Both are members of the NPA (New Anti-Capitalist Party), and Rémy is also a member of the L'Etincelle group.

They spoke to AWL members on Sunday 24 October in Paris.

Between 30% and 20% of railworkers are on strike, but the percentage on strike differs widely between grades.

At the Gare du Nord, about 60% of train drivers are on strike, but only about 10% of station staff. There are also a lot of strikers among signallers and other train crew.

The higher level of action among drivers is partly a matter of tradition, partly a matter of them having more to lose because at present they have special arrangements allowing earlier retirement on a full pension.

Nationally, the CGT is dominant among railworkers, counting between 40 and 45% of all union members. But at the Gare du Nord SUD is the strongest confederation.

That the next day of action has been called with some delay - Thursday 28 October - makes things difficult, but there is still strength to continue after the pensions law is voted through parliament.

Between Sunday and Thursday the strikers would be keeping up their mass mass meetings, going out to mobilise other workers for Thursday, and taking collections for strike funds. On Tuesday 26th they would join the student demonstration.

Strike committees exist, but only on paper. At the Gare du Nord there is an "organisation bureau", of SUD activists plus a few workers who are not union members. [Under French labour law, workers vote for union reps and are represented by them without having to be union members themselves. Thus it is not uncommon for workers who are strongly pro-union and active in strikes not to bother to join the union].

At Rouen, railworkers' organisation is stronger. Railworkers there are at the centre of producing a daily cross-union dispute bulletin.

The strikers' basic demand is the withdrawal of the pensions law. There is a generalised discontent, but at present not the confidence to go for wider demands. The immediate difficulty is to convince people that they can win on the pensions issue.

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