- Title: FRANCE: French rail strike drags on, risks disrupting school exams
- Date: 13th June 2014
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 13, 2014) (REUTERS) TRAIN ARRIVING ON STATION CROWD OF COMMUTERS IN STATION COMMUTERS ON PLATFORM AS TRAIN ARRIVES VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN STATION EXTERIOR OF PARIS TRAIN STATION GARE DE LYON CGT UNION FLAG VARIOUS OF STRIKING RAILWORKERS GATHERED OUTSIDE STATION VARIOUS OF STRIKING RAILWORKERS HEADING TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY (SOUNDBITE) (French) MEMBER OF SU
- Embargoed: 28th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Economy,Politics,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA2RMYBUET2S4LWQVAJCLT1IF9H
- Story Text: French railworkers vote to extend strike for at least one more day, with risks of disrupting end-of-school exams for thousands of students.
French railworkers voted on Friday (June 13) to extend a strike that was already on its third day and the government said it feared one of the longest stoppages in years could drag into next week, disrupting end-of-school exams for thousands of students.
President Francois Hollande, visiting the Andorra principality wedged between France and Spain, called for an end to the labour union protest over a reform of the railway company structure.
Rail passengers have seen services cut or cancelled since the strike began late on Tuesday over government plans to bring the SNCF rail operator and the RFF network under the roof of one holding company, while keeping their operations separate.
Unions fear the reform will hurt working conditions and want the two companies fully merged into a single company as they were before 1997. They also want the government to take on some 40 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in debt owed by the two firms.
"Each time a public service company has been privatised, it has always been done the same way. By the way, it's sad that it's a left wing government that does it. That is they put on one side the non-profitable activities, which always remain public, but the profitable activities -- and I can tell you that there are some at the SNCF -- if the bill is voted, these activities will be privatised. This is why we are angry and on strike," said unionist Fabien Villedieu.
The government says the reform is needed to create a coherent structure for the railways as France and other European countries gear up for full liberalisation of the railways in coming years.
Rail service disruption could complicate things for students on Monday when the Baccalaureat exams start. The government's education department was working on ways to accommodate late arrivals for the high-pressure exams that mark the exit from secondary school.
But Villedieu dismissed any responsibility from the railworkers on the issue.
"They present a bill on the eve of high school exams. What were they thinking? That we wouldn't do anything? That we wouldn't go on strike and kindly apologise? We didn't fix the agenda ourselves. The government did," he told Reuters Television.
The SNCF rail operator said Eurostar links with Britain and Thalys links with Belgium and further north were expected to run normally, but other international links with countries such as Italy and Spain were still reduced, along with internal high-speed TV train services, down by as much as 50 percent on Friday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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