55 minutes of daily walkouts for 46 days: what you need to know about the unprecedented strike at Keolis Méditerranée

Les débrayages seront quotidiens du 2 septembre au 18 octobre, de 7 h 20 à 8 h 15. DR

Une grève de 46 jours débute ce lundi 2 septembre, chez Keolis Méditerranée. Elle prendra la forme d'un débrayage quotidien de 7 h 20 à 8 h 15 et impactera diversement les transports sur Agde, Sète et le bassin de Thau.

The start of the school year is set to be complicated on the transport front. For the third time in four months, a strike will affect Keolis Méditerranée, which manages more than fifty school and regular lines in the Sète, Thau basin, Agde and Pézenas sectors.

But this time, it is set to be long. Unlike the notices of June (from 10 to 14) and July 2024 (from 1 to 5), this one will last a month and a half, from September 2 to October 18. It will only take the form of a daily 55-minute walkout, slightly different from June and July (from 7 a.m. to 7:55 a.m.): this time from 7:20 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. But it will obviously have an impact on schoolchildren.

A unilateral increase lower than the proposals before the strike

"There has been no progress. All negotiations during the strike periods have been unsuccessful", explains Cédric Goyer, Unsa delegate at Keolis Méditerranée, the transport company's only union. Management imposed a unilateral increase of 4% to close the NAO (Mandatory annual negotiations, Editor's note), while the last proposals made before the strike were around 5%."

Keolis Méditerranée management confirms the absence of an agreement during the NAO. "We have held four meetings since the beginning of April, plus three others. Our proposals of June 6th having been rejected, we were unable to reach an agreement. In July, we then decided to increase salaries by 4% as of January 1st, 2025″, explains Benoît Pomarède, the director.

That's more than a 10% increase in wages in 2 years. We have to stay reasonable

Insufficient for the Unsa, which denounces “an unfair maneuver that clearly resembles blackmail”. “Last year, we increased wages by 6.5% and revalued bonuses. That's more than a 10% increase in two years. We must remain reasonable: not everyone has had a +10% salary increase in 2 years”, adds Benoît Pomarède.

Even if management assures that it “remains open to dialogue”, the two parties are sticking to their positions for the time being. But they are at least in agreement on one point: the impact of the action. “A one-and-a-half month strike notice is unprecedented in our company. We are not happy about it at all and we are well aware that we are taking users hostage, but we have no other choice”, says Cédric Goyer. “We did everything we could to avoid social unrest. We are sorry because it disrupts customers across all networks”, adds Benoît Pomarède.

I am not sure that thoughts will console the families who will be impacted starting this Monday morning. Because the movement, already followed by more than 50% in June and July, will impact many lines. “It looks set to be very well followed in Agde, much less so in Frontignan. In Sète, we should exceed 50% of strikers”, estimates the Unsa delegate.

For this Monday, September 2, Keolis Méditerranée expected disruptions on lines 12, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 (Sète and Bassin de Thau), 648, 649, 650, 656/603, 659 and 660 and school routes.

Managed by Keolis Bassin de Thau, the intra-muros bus lines of Sète are not affected.

And also working conditions

The tensions between the Unsa union and the management of Keolis Méditerranée also concern working conditions in the company. "I’have addressedé a letter à management, also transmitted to inspection and à occupational medicine, to warn of the deterioration of working conditions", informs C dric Goyer. Benoît Pomarède indicates for his parté that he will receive the union “at the beginning of next week” on this issue.

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