The Senate adopts a text to limit the right to strike in transport at certain times of the year

Le Sénat a adopté, mardi 9 avril, une proposition de loi pour limiter les grèves dans les transports pendant certaines périodes. ILLUSTRATION MAXPPP – YOAN VALAT

Under examination in the Senate this Tuesday, April 9, a bill to limit strikes in transport to several periods of the year, such as during school holidays or election weekends, has been adopted.

School holidays, public holidays… Against the advice of the government, the Senate adopted on Tuesday April 9 a bill to limit strikes in transport during certain periods, sparking a very abrasive debate a few months before the Olympic Games.

The left fiercely opposed to the text

Necessary measures to "ensure continuity of service", or "deliberate attacks against the right to strike"? The divisions have been revived between the left, fiercely opposed to the text, and the senatorial majority of the right and the center, unsurprisingly managed to have it adopted by 211 votes against 112.

The text of centrist senator Hervé Marseille, author of this bill tabled in February, grants the government a quota of 30 days per year during which "personnel public transport services" – except the airline sector – would be deprived of their right to strike, with a limit of 7 days in a row per ban period.

These protected days would only concern certain periods: school holidays, public holidays, elections and referendums as well as events "of major importance& quot;, like the Olympics. And the ban on striking would be limited only to peak hours and to personnel essential to the operation of the service.

"Yes to the right to strike but no to absolute blockage"

"We say yes to the right to strike but no to the absolute blockade of an entire country", said the rapporteur Philippe Tabarot. "It’is not possible, during the Olympic Games, to take hostage thousands of French people who sacrificed themselves to buy tickets to attend in competitions", his colleague Michel Savin justified himself, while several unions threaten to mobilize during this period.

The text also plans to extend the deadline for declaring strikers from 48 to 72 hours, to increase the "minimum level of service& quot; during peak hours with a requisition process under strict conditions, as well as a system for lapsing certain notices not followed up, to fight against &quot ;dormant notices" which sometimes run for several months.

Another measure voted on: that which requires employees wishing to strike to join the movement from the start of their shift and not during the day.