The Senate adopts in committee measures to regulate the right to strike in transport

The bill from the president of the centrist group, Hervé Marseille, was adopted by the Senate's Regional Planning Committee, before its examination in the hemicycle on Tuesday at the Palais du Luxembourg.

Submitted in February during the full mobilization of SNCF controllers, the text intends to "protect the French" in the face of "excessive and repeated hostage-taking" of users during busy periods such as school holidays, according to its author.

The text initially aimed to allow the government to neutralize 60 days per year during which "public transport service personnel" would be deprived of their right to strike, with a limit of 15 days in a row per ban period.

In committee on Wednesday, the Republican rapporteur, Philippe Tabarot, had several amendments adopted to refocus the text, increasing this quota of days to 30 per year, and limiting their use to seven consecutive days.

Furthermore, the ban would only be restricted to rush hours and "only personnel whose assistance is essential to ensure the proper functioning of the transport service".

These protected days would only concern four types of period: school holidays, public holidays, elections and referendums as well as during “events of major importance on French territory”.

"We are very attached to this fundamental right which is the right to strike, but it is clear that it is today misused, used in an abusive manner and has become a prerequisite for negotiation instead of being just that. "a last resort," Mr. Tabarot told AFP.

The left is opposed to these proposals which, according to it, call into question the right to strike.

A system was also added to apply these measures during the period of the Paris Olympic Games, but Mr. Tabarot admitted that he had "little hope" that this text could reach Parliament before this event.

While the initial bill included the air sector, it was ultimately excluded by an amendment in committee, limiting it to land transport services, particularly rail.

Previously, two air transport employee unions, the SNPNC-FO representing hostesses and stewards and the Air France Pilots Union (Spaf) had called a strike on April 15 and 16 to protest against the proposed law. .

For its part, Air France said Wednesday afternoon that it had "taken note" of this notice but recalled that "the Senate Commission which met this morning in order to finalize the text which will be presented to the Senate on April 9 has released the air transport within the scope of the bill.

The debate on the right to strike in transport had a certain echo in February when the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, deplored a "form of habit" to strike during school holidays and affirmed that if "the strike is a right", "working is a duty".