French rail workers vote down reforms

WORKERS at France’s stateowned SNCF rail company yesterday resoundingly rejected President Emmanuel Macron’s planned overhaul of the railways in an internal ballot organized by labor unions.

Macron’s government wants to create a leaner, more efficient public railway company before the monopoly in domestic passenger rail is opened to competition in line with European Union rules, as has happened in countries such as neighboring Germany.

The unions, which called the vote days after Air France employees forced the resignation of Air France-KLM’s chief executive, hope it will inject fresh energy into rolling strikes and weaken the government’s negotiating hand.

“This vote totally discredits the SNCF management,” said Laurent Brun, head of General Confederation of Labour rail division.

Brun said 95 percent of those who voted rejected the reform. In all, some 90,000 of 150,000 SNCF employees voted.

The government has dismissed the ballot as a petition with no legal significance.

The strikes have disrupted but not paralyzed the transport network. There has been no sign Macron will back down on the biggest and most disputed reform so far in his one-yearold presidency.

Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne signalled there would be no turning back: “I don’t think it was very responsible of the unions to have people believe the reform might not happen,” she said before the result was announced.