RMT JOINS FRENCH ANTI-PRIVATISATION FIGHT

RMTnews :: october 2005 24 RMT JOINS FRENCH ANTI-PRIVATISATION FIGHT HollandÕ s rail union FNV, the Spanish CGT, CGSP of Belgium and Italy’s ORSA also joined the French rail union SUD in a weekend of demonstrations and debates against the “liberalisation” of French SNCF rail services. The flood of international support followed a similar protest in the rail depot at Dugny-sur-Meuse by French rail workers in June, which was met by police charges and tear gas. Police finally cleared the track to allow CFTA Cargo, a subsidiary of rail privateer Connex, to run private freight trains to Germany. The fight against the privatisation of French railways is of great importance to international union delegations in Dugny as they are all facing the same threat at home through the implementation of EU rules. EU RULES In fact, just days after the Dugny protest, MEPs in Brussels voted in favour of a controversial new bill which aims to privatise all train services within the EU and create a harmonised European train drivers’ licence. The legislation aims to “integrate” railways across the EU by attacking national publicly-owned rail networks and create a single train drivers’ licence, which undermine national pay and conditions. AN RMT delegation joined transport workers from all over Europe last month to take part in protests in the French town of Dugny against the break up and privatisation of the SNCF state rail network.