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With the railway reform completed, the carrier began eighteen months of marathon negotiations to prepare for the opening of the market to competition.
Guillaume Pepy can rub his hands. In eight months, the SNCF, which he has been managing for ten years, has never changed so much and so quickly. The mastodon deemed irreformable has experienced its greatest change, probably one of the most crucial in its history, with the adoption in mid-June, the railway reform. Wielding the stick and carrot, the executive led drumming campaign candidate Macron's promise.
An engagement that even a intermittent inter-union strike of 37 days, a first in France, could not delay. This, however, cost the SNCF, it has sealed its operating income of 790 million euros (reduced to 964 million euros) between January and June. Its net profit even falls in the red of 762 million euros.
Exit the status of railway workers and the public establishment, transformed into a public limited company … Does this mean that the hardest is done, that the SNCF is in working order to face the opening of the market to European competition in 2020? Surely not. The new public limited company, due to open on 1 January 2020, is far from ready. Rail reform has only opened the door to new social and structural projects. It is now up to SNCF's chairman of the executive board, Guillaume Pepy, to carry them out.
The first of these concerns the branch collective agreement. From 1 January 2020, the railway market will gradually open up to European competition and new entrants must be allowed to have a minimum common social base.
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"The future branch collective agreement needs to come closer to its corporate agreement so as not to suffer from too much lag when opening the market to competition in 2020 "
A close friend of the discussions
This is the role of this branch collective agreement, the negotiations of which had been started before the reform. Suspended the time of its adoption, the discussions resumed this month under the aegis of the Public Transport Union (UTP, branch of management). They look rather tense while the main thing remains to negotiate. On the table, two major issues are under discussion: clbadification and compensation of employees. And the brakes are not lacking. Powerless to block reform, the CGT-railway and SUD-rail obviously have no interest in being conciliatory on these two key issues for employees.
Especially since the next professional elections, scheduled by the end of November, will be decisive for these two unions, which failed to block the reform. But above all, notes one close to the discussions, "the most problematic is that the SNCF also has an interest in setting the bar high, to ensure that the branch agreement is as favorable as possible for railway workers." And for one simple reason: "The future branch collective agreement must be as close as possible to its company agreement so as not to suffer too much a lag when opening the market to competition in 2020" , says the expert.
At the same time, the SNCF must present its new business project at the start of the academic year focused on its "new railway ambition". It's about making the carrier more competitive by reducing costs. This project is explosive. "This agreement aims to achieve greater industrial performance and increased productivity (nearly 3% per year, Editor's note)," badyzes Gilles Dansart, rail specialist, director of Mobilettre. And it is only in return for these efforts that the State has agreed to take back some of SNCF Réseau's debt from 2020 (35 billion euros out of nearly 50 billion euros expected this year- there). Similarly, Guillaume Pepy is committed to evolve the ultra-centralized organization and management of the SNCF to prepare them for the arrival of competitors.
Nothing is won for Guillaume Pepy. Especially since all these projects require the consent of employees. "It's not going to be easy to get the staff behind," says a reformist trade unionist. His room for maneuver is very small. "Since the El Khomri law, recalls a relative of the carrier, any agreement must be voted by the majority, but it is difficult to see the CGT-railwaymen (34.3% of the votes in the last elections) and SUD-rail (16.8% ) accept such a text. "
" It is clear that the hardest is yet to come, "says Gilles Dansart. And the time is running out for the boss of SNCF who does not intend to seek a third term in 2020. This leaves him barely eighteen months.
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