WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL AL #340 - NCF, SNCF, we are not tired! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The rail will have been one of the big sectors on renewable strike from

March 7th. But, vaccinated since 2019 against the " proxy strike ", the
railway workers did not want to fight for the others. However, despite
the defeat, the climate is not one of resignation. ---- Even before the
first day of mobilization against the announced reform, all the feedback
from the field on the railway side could be summed up as follows: "We
don't want to be the locomotive of the movement. "We remember that,
during the historic strikes of winter 2019 against retirement on points,
the SNCF and the RATP remained far too isolated. The legitimate fear of
a new " proxy strike " has slowed down the mobilization this time.
Renewable or not renewable?
So how do you overcome leapfrog days when colleagues do not want to take
the lead and other sectors also stick to twenty-four-hour strikes? Some
have sold us the " alternative " calendar, supported among others by the
CGT-Chimie : sequenced strikes supposed to go crescendo. A battle plan
that will have pushed the railway inter-union to attempt a forty-eight
hour strike on February 7 and 8, but without success. In reality, this
tactic corresponded less to the real aspiration of the base than to
internal calculations in certain CGT federations, to show the muscles on
the eve of an overstretched confederal congress. We were right to try
the renewal from March 7th. But reading the SNCF strike rates for the
entire movement shows very clearly that it was only carried by a
militant core. The majority of colleagues who signed up only did so on
interpro days. The strike of January 19 had gone well: 46% of strikers,
including 77% of drivers. March 7 got off to a good start (40%), but the
rate quickly fell: 10% on March 10, before rising to 15% on March 15.
Reflecting these difficulties, the railway GAs were weak, both in terms
of participation and vitality in the discussions. This should raise
questions about how to keep the discussion alive between strikers. We
can of course regret that the strike was not stronger in rail, but would
the commitment of rail on the front line have radically changed the
situation ? Is it not once again on the private side, sectors where
struggle unionism is little or not present, that we must turn if we do
not want to continually relive the same scenario of strikes which are
struggling to become generalized?

No victory... but no demoralization
Ultimately, we cannot say that the railway workers are exhausted from
this movement, including on the pay slip side! The strike funds helped,
even if we know that the donation is also a way of striking by proxy.
The most encouraging thing is that the defeat does not seem to have
demoralized the colleagues. In the discussions, it is the government
that emerges weakened from the fight: its recourse to 49-3, its failure
to convince, its use of repression, its stagnation have made it lose
more feathers than us, even though even we didn't win. Clearly, the
railway workers could well be again, in the short term, at the
rendezvous of the class struggle!

Ben (UCL Nantes)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?SNCF-on-n-est-pas-fatigue-es
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