Public transport workers strike for retirement at 55

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In late March 2001, urban public transport systems in most French cities (excluding Paris) were hit by four days of strike action. Employees in the sector are calling for universal early retirement at the age of 55, as already enjoyed by many other transport workers.

On 26 March 2001, bus, underground railway and tram services were disrupted or brought to a complete standstill by industrial action in some 40 French cities, including major urban centres such as Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux and Strasbourg. Strike notices were served in 17 of France's 19 cities with a population of over 250,000. The industrial action calling for early retirement at 55, which was well supported, continued on 27 and 28 March in around a dozen major cities. Workers at the Paris Public Transit Authority (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, RATP) did not participate, as they have their own specific retirement system.

France's 36,000 urban public transport workers are demanding universal early retirement at 55, due to a deterioration in working conditions and safety on the job. Since retirement at 55 was abolished in this sector in 1954, urban public transport workers have been covered by the standard national system - retirement at the age of 60 for those with a 40-year pension contribution period. This is in contrast to the special schemes providing for retirement at 55 (or at 50 for train crew) in place at RATP and the SNCF national railways, in which the state is the majority shareholder. It also contrasts with the retirement provisions for lorry drivers (retirement at 55 after 25 years' service behind the wheel) or inter-city transport workers (FR9702106F).

Four trade unions - CGT, CGT-FO, CFTC and the independent National Federation of Road Transport Drivers (Fédération Nationale des Chauffeurs Routiers, FNCR) - called the March strike action. These unions together received 75% of the vote in the sector's most recent workplace elections of employee representatives. CGT and CGT-FO, which are the largest unions in urban public transport, see early retirement at 55 as a legitimate demand. First, the unions consider that urban public transport workers have been neglected since "all other transport sectors have special provisions". Second, CGT believes that it is possible to address the demand for retirement at 55, given the significant profits posted by the major companies in the sector. Some 90% of workers in urban public transport are employed by subsidiaries of three major groups in the semi-public and private sectors: Via Cariane (owned by SNCF), Connex (Vivendi) and Transdev (Caisse des Dépôts).

The unions also addressed their demands to the Minister of Transport, Jean-Claude Gayssot, who decided to move a meeting of the sector's joint committee forward from 23 April to 12 April.

The CFDT union confederation did not support the strike call in all cities. It is calling for a system giving employees the option to take retirement based on a 37.5-year pension contribution period. The priority for CFDT is to improve job classification and career paths in this sector, where promotion opportunities are currently almost non-existent (only 3% of drivers ever achieve supervisory level).

The Public Transport Association (Union des Transports Publics, UTP), the sectoral employers' association representing the subsidiaries of the abovementioned three companies, reject the demand for retirement at 55. It argues that "a provision of this type would cost FRF 300 million annually over the next five years and FRF 400 million in subsequent years until 2007". The association also points out that 75% of public transport workers over the age of 55 are already covered by some form of early retirement scheme (either progressive early retirement, or the national ARPE scheme enabling employees with 40 years' contributions to retire before the statutory pensionable age - FR9901150F). UTP challenges any comparison with the road haulage sector where "the arduousness of work as well as wages are different". Lastly, it criticises the demand as "anachronistic" at a time when the MEDEF employers' confederation is attempting to increase the retirement age through negotiations on supplementary pensions (FR0103136N).

The strike action was suspended after four days pending the meeting of the sectoral joint committee on 12 April. The striking workers obtained a commitment that the agenda of this meeting would deal with the creation of a mechanism for retirement at 55 in the urban public transport sector.