Bis repeated. This Tuesday, January 31, the strike should still be very popular in public transport for the day of mobilization against the pension reform project, with disruptions to be expected throughout France, from the TGV to the TER and RER, in the Paris metro. and towards Orly airport. Building on the success of their first day of action on January 19, the eight main unions called “to mobilize even more massively on January 31” against a reform that they describe as “unfair”.
Guest on the set of BFM TV, Érik Meyer, Federal Secretary Sud-Rail, sees the pension reform as “a real declaration of war on the world of work.” The first day of action brought together 1.12 million demonstrators in the streets, according to the Interior Ministry, and more than two million according to the organizers. According to a source within the intelligence services, the executive again expects 1.2 million demonstrators at the national level this time “at the high end, including 100,000 in Paris, with 240 processions or rallies planned” throughout the country. territory. Eleven thousand police and gendarmes will be mobilized everywhere in France on Tuesday to supervise these demonstrations, including 4000 in Paris, according to Gérald Darmanin.
The unions are all the more upset that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was firm on Sunday on the postponement of the retirement age to 64, which is “no longer negotiable”. A “provocation 48 hours from the demonstration”, denounced the communist leader Fabien Roussel. “It will be a difficult or even very difficult day in public transport”, warned Sunday morning the Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune, in the program The Grand Jury on RTL.
The pension reform bill must be examined in committee at the National Assembly from this Monday until February 17. Over 7,000 amendments were tabled by the opposition.
At the SNCF
The four representative unions at SNCF (CGT Cheminots, SUD Rail, Unsa Ferroviaire and CFDT Cheminots) have called on railway workers to join the strike movement “massively”. On Tuesday, traffic will be “severely disrupted” on the TGVs: only one in three trains on average on the rails. The SNCF thus plans to maintain one out of three TGVs (InOui and OUIGO) at the national level. On the northern axis, there will be two out of five InOui, one out of two for the eastern axis, one out of four on the Atlantic axis and one out of two for journeys to and from the southeast. Two OUIGO out of five should circulate. For travel between regions, the SNCF anticipates one in three TGVs.
Intercity traffic will also be “very severely disrupted”: no train will run except for a round trip on the Paris-Clermont-Ferrand, Paris-Limoges-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Marseille routes. Night trains will be completely interrupted on the nights of Monday to Tuesday and Tuesday to Wednesday. SNCF travelers already recommends that those who can “cancel or postpone their trips” and “favor teleworking”. Users will be able to check the circulation of trains from this Monday at 5 p.m. on the SNCF sites and applications. In Ile-de-France, major disruptions will also be expected for the Transilien and RER regional trains.
For those who will not be able to telecommute, Ile-de-France Mobilités offers carpooling “to all Ile-de-France residents during the days of the strike in partnership with 3 carpooling platforms (Karos, Klaxit and Blablacar Daily)”, said the Ile-de-France transport union. In the outer suburbs, only one in three trains will run on the RER lines A, B, and the Transiliens H and U; one in four trains on the Transilien K line; and one in ten trains for the RER C and D lines (partly closed), the RER E, and the Transiliens J, L, N, P and R, according to the SNCF.
At the RATP
On the side of the Paris metro, the RATP indicates that traffic will be “very disrupted” with forecasts of one train in two to one train in four depending on the lines. Some of them will have closed stations and will only operate during peak hours. Only automated lines 1 and 14 will operate normally. On the other hand, line 3bis will be completely interrupted. In Ile-de-France, there will be one train out of 3 for the RER A and B and lines H and U of the Transilien. Worse still on line K with one in four trains. Regarding RATP buses and trams, the situation will be much better: 8 buses and 8 trams out of 10 should be able to run.
International trains
On the international side, the trains will experience various fates: Eurostar and Thalys traffic will operate almost normally, but TGV traffic will be “severely disrupted” between France and Switzerland (Lyria), with one in four trains for the other connections to France. ‘foreigner.
At the airport
At Paris Orly airport, the first Civil Aviation forecasts point to the cancellation of one in five flights on Tuesday. The CGT Air France is also calling for mobilization, and provides for the cancellation of one in ten short and medium haul flights on its lines. Long haul should not be affected.
At school
At least 50% of teachers are expected to strike in schools on Tuesday, according to figures from SNUiPP-FSU, the first primary union. The education and high school students’ unions had called in a joint statement that the movement of January 31 is “even stronger” than that of January 19. “We are united and determined to have this pension reform project withdrawn,” they write. “During the first mobilization, all over the territory, more than two million workers and young people mobilized, went on strike and/or demonstrated, in the public as well as in the private sector, against this government’s pension reform” , underlines the press release.
In ski resorts
The two main ski lift employee unions, Force Ouvrière (FO) and the CGT, filed strike notices for January 31. The objective for them: to protest against the pension reform project, but also against the modification of the unemployment insurance scheme for seasonal workers. However, “the lifts will operate normally from the next day”, says Éric Becker, FO general secretary of ski lifts and seasonal workers, because the union does not wish to “further weaken companies already in difficulty”.