PARIS: Trade unions at France’s railway operator SNCF on Saturday called for an indefinite strike from next month that could disrupt train services during the upcoming Christmas holidays.
The unions are demanding a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF, the freight division of the national rail operator, and protesting against the terms and conditions for opening up regional lines to competition.
In a joint statement to AFP, the CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots unions said the action would begin on December 11.
The unions also reiterated their call for shorter strike action from November 20 to November 22.
Industrial action at SNCF has repeatedly disrupted travel during school holidays.
In February, train controllers went on strike during a holiday weekend, leaving 150,000 people stranded. A Christmas strike in December 2022 affected some 200,000 holidaymakers.
In 2023, the European Commission announced an in-depth investigation into whether France breached EU rules on state support by subsidising the freight division of SNCF.
The French government launched a restructuring process which will see France’s top rail freight company disappear on January 1, 2025 and be replaced by two separate companies, Hexafret and Technis.
The plan was negotiated by the French government and the European Commission to avoid a reorganization procedure that could have led to the outright liquidation of the company, which employs 5,000 people.
In their statement, the trade unions “reaffirm that a moratorium is possible and necessary to allow the various players to get back to the table and find ways of guaranteeing not only the continuity of Fret SNCF, but also its development over the longer term.”
French rail unions threaten to strike ahead of Christmas
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French rail unions threaten to strike ahead of Christmas
- The unions are demanding a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF and protesting against the terms and conditions for opening up regional lines to competition
- Industrial action at SNCF has repeatedly disrupted travel during school holidays
Federal judge accuses Trump administration of ‘terror’ against immigrants in scathing ruling
- The judge said that the White House had also “extended its violence on its own citizens”
- “The threats posed by the executive branch cannot be viewed in isolation”
CALIFRONIA: A federal judge has accused the Trump administration of terrorizing immigrants and recklessly violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people living in the country illegally.
Citing the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, the judge said that the White House had also “extended its violence on its own citizens.”
“The threats posed by the executive branch cannot be viewed in isolation,” US District Judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California said in her scathing decision issued late Wednesday.
Sykes ordered the US Department of Homeland Security to provide detained immigrants around the country with notice of her earlier decisions that they may be eligible to seek release on bond.
Under past administrations, people with no criminal record could generally request a bond hearing before an immigration judge while their cases wound through immigration court unless they were stopped at the border. President Donald Trump ‘s White House reversed that policy in favor of mandatory detention.
Sykes, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, ruled in November and again in December that the change violated the law and extended her decision to immigrants nationwide. The Republican administration, however, has continued denying bond hearings.
That has prompted thousands of immigrants to file separate petitions in federal court seeking their release. More than 20,000 habeas corpus cases have been filed since Trump’s inauguration, according to federal court records analyzed by the AP.
An email Thursday to the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.
Sykes said Wednesday by violating her decision, the administration had “wasted valuable time and resources” and deprived immigrants of their “liberty, economic stability, and fundamental dignity.”
She also slammed the claim that the immigration crackdown was removing the worst criminals, saying most of the people arrested did not fit that description.
“Americans have expressed deep concerns over unlawful, wanton acts by the executive branch,” she wrote. “Beyond its terror against noncitizens, the executive branch has extended its violence on its own citizens, killing two American citizens— Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.”
