Since December 9, 2008, TER train conductors in Nice have been on strike. They are protesting against the announcement made by SNCF to increase the number of TER trains in circulation by 20%, because the management has not announced an increase in staff. This is what the railway workers are demanding, through their unions, led by CGT. This social conflict “makes traffic in the department difficult, if not impossible,” according to Christian Estrosi, who expressed this in a statement last week. Canceled trains, delays… it’s too much for local elected officials. At the request of Michel Vauzelle, President of the Regional Council, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, Francis Lamy, appointed a mediator to resolve the issue. Françoise Buffet, the Departmental Director of Labor, Employment, and Professional Training of the Alpes-Maritimes, is thus charged with settling this battle. A mediation mission is underway. On Tuesday, January 13, a first meeting took place. Each party stated their positions, and no solution was found. On Wednesday, the regional management of the SNCF and the unions were again summoned for a meeting, which ended late last night.
Staggered Strike
Even before the end of this meeting in the premises of the Prefecture of A-M, the management of the SNCF announced that the strike was extended again for a period of 24 hours. Forecasts mention one train out of four on the Les Arcs-Ventimiglia axis and one train out of three on the Nice-Breil axis.
For a month and a half, TER drivers have been using a method of staggered strikes. One day on, one day off for each individual. This type of demonstration is very disruptive but terribly effective in bothering SNCF and its users mainly. The percentage of strikers is never the same and it is complicated to evaluate traffic from day to day. A nightmare for the 22,000 daily passengers of the Nice-Monaco line.
