The Minister of Relations with Parliament, Marie Lebec, did not rule out on Tuesday “sanctuarizing” periods without strikes in transport in the name of the “public service mission” of the SNCF in particular, a request from LR and the centrists of the Senate. “The question of protecting the right to strike is essential but I believe that we can question the use of the right to strike when we have a public service mission,” declared the Minister Delegate on Sud-Radio, after departures on vacation marked, for zones A and C, by a well-attended train strike weekend.
“There are times when we can consider that these periods must be protected,” she added, questioned about a proposed LR law, initially initiated by centrist senators, and providing in particular for up to 60 days “during which there could be no strike notice”, for example during school holidays or during major events. For Marie Lebec, who admitted not yet having read the Republican bill, “reflection on the subject can be debated in the Assembly”. “Do the modalities necessarily have to be passed by law? Can this be the subject of an agreement or something else with the union representatives? I believe all options are open,” she said.
Also read: Anne de Guigné: “Why strikes at the SNCF always target holidays”
“What must be protected is the right to strike,” replied the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet. “I remind the government that the right to strike is a fundamental right of workers, enshrined in the Constitution and in the fundamental norms of international law. The last government that banned the right to strike was Vichy,” she continued. While freedom of movement is invoked to protect periods without strikes, “during the peasant demonstrations where they blocked roads and highways, we have not heard of any questioning of the right to strike,” reacted the secretary. general of Unsa-Ferroviaire, Didier Mathis, denouncing a “double standard”.
Such a measure “is opening Pandora’s box and once it is open, we don’t know how far it can go,” he warned. For Sud-Rail, “it’s a red line,” insisted federal secretary Julien Troccaz. “Apart from adding fuel to the fire during the period, we don’t really see what purpose it will serve,” he assured.
