SNCF: how Italy made transport strikes impossible during school holidays

While a strike by SNCF controllers is seriously disrupting TGV and other Intercity traffic during this winter holiday weekend, Italy is looked at by some with envy on this side of the Alps. . Intended to regulate the right to strike in transport during specific periods such as school holidays, a bill tabled by centrist senators this week is largely inspired by the transalpine model. Because in the Boot, a situation such as we are experiencing this weekend in France would be impossible.

In Italy, in fact, “the right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution, as in France, but is limited by Law No. 146 of 1990,” explains Maître Aldo Sevino, lawyer at the Lyon and Turin bars. A decision which results from “balancing the right to strike and the right to mobility of citizens”.

Concretely, in the Italian peninsula, transport employees cannot strike during periods of high traffic, that is to say the Christmas, Easter and All Saints' holidays, summer holidays and national elections or local. These moments of truce are clearly demarcated: from December 17 to January 7, from June 27 to July 4, from July 28 to September 3 and from October 30 to November 5; five days before and after Easter; the three days preceding, following and those which coincide with national, European, regional, general administrative elections and referendums; the day before, the day after and those which coincide with local elections and referendums.

In addition to these formal temporary bans, the right to strike in services deemed essential (health, security, mobility, education, media) is much more regulated. A notice must be given at least ten days before the start of the mobilization - compared to five in France -, including for private companies. Furthermore, before announcing a strike, discussions must be initiated between unions and entities providing public services, in order to find a consensus if possible without impacting users. Thus, lawyers, pharmacists and other public service professionals deemed essential cannot strike during defined periods.

Also read: Strikes: would it be possible to impose a real minimum transport service in France?

“The intention of the Italian legislator in regulating the right to strike was, in a word, to regulate its exercise in such a way that the cost of workers' social demands is not passed on to the community,” analyzes Master Sevino. In other words, Rome has found a certain balance between protecting the right to strike, defending freedom of movement and maintaining economic activity. Thus, Italian law gives priority to public mobility over salary demands, preserving the possibility for everyone to travel during periods of traditional family reunions. A hierarchy that is politically unthinkable in France, quips the lawyer.

However, it would be legally possible to draw inspiration from the Italian example, believes the expert. The right to mobility being constitutional in the same way as the right to strike, “a legislative solution balancing them could be considered”. “Since there are two equal principles, we could temporarily limit one to let the other express itself,” he judges. An analysis not necessarily shared by all jurists, others believing that an absolute ban on the right to strike, although limited to certain periods of the year, would necessarily be rejected by the Constitutional Council

The idea of ​​restricting the right to strike during school holidays had already been put on the table by parliamentarians on the occasion of the major Christmas strike at the SNCF at the end of 2022, but had not received a favorable response to the within the government. On the occasion of this new social movement at the SNCF, supported by a minority of French people, the executive seems to be showing more openness. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Wednesday encouraged Parliament to take up the debate on the right to strike. An opinion which nevertheless seems little shared within his government. Limit railway workers' right to strike? “I don’t want it to come to that,” replied Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete on Friday. “The question is not the right to strike, but to know to what extent we do not abuse it,” said the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu this week on Sud Radio. There is no doubt in any case that the unions would be upbeat in the face of this approach touching on the sacrosanct right to strike.

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