Off the Rails
Today’s rail and civil-service strike in France is the latest union fightback against Macron’s neoliberal agenda.
Rail workers on strike in Paris, joining striking civil servants at Bastille, March 22, 2018.Cole Stangler
France has one of the best railway systems in the world. The network is accessible, affordable, and quick. It puts to shame many of its European neighbors, to say nothing of the mess on the other side of the English Channel.
It also happens to be nationalized, and employees benefit from a special employment status that provides enhanced job security and early retirement. The arrangement has long angered business elites and right-wing governments — which, naturally, means it has become a subject of “reform” efforts by current President Emmanuel Macron. Fresh from overhauling labor law in favor of employers and slashing taxes on the ultrarich, the former investment banker who dreams of transforming France into a “start-up” nation is on to his next move.
Rail Resistance
On March 14, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe formally unveiled legislation that would abolish rail workers’ special employment status and lay the legal framework for future privatization of the French National Railway Corporation (SNCF). The latter goal comes amid directives from the European Commission to allow private-sector competition on commuter rails by 2020. Under the government’s proposal, the SNCF would see its legal status shift from a public company to a “publicly financed” corporation. Previous administrations have applied the same move to the postal service and to France Télécom, the latter of which has since been fully privatized.
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