Staff at the state-owned railway have been conducting a series of rolling strikes since April to protest the legislation, which has impacted a number of cross-border workers in Luxembourg. Around 19,000 people take French commuter trains from Lorraine to the grand duchy each day, Le Monde reported in April.
Macron’s bill passed the National Assembly by a vote of 452 to 80 on Wednesday. It is expected to pass the French Senate on Thursday.
“The new law will turn the SNCF into a joint-stock company, giving its management greater corporate responsibility, will phase out its domestic passenger monopoly from 2020 and put an end to generous benefits and pensions for future employees.”
The news agency also said:
“At the same time, the government has committed not to sell any of the stock, a move to reassure unions that it won’t be privatized.”
“The government argues the loss-making SNCF -- a bastion of the union movement -- needs to cut costs and improve flexibility before the EU passenger rail market opens up to competition.”
Unions did extract guarantees for existing staff who switch to a new operator, AFP noted.
The industrial action appeared to be losing stream, AFP said. The number of rail workers on strike, dropped from around 34% in April to 13% this week.
The more moderate CFDT union “has signalled it will support the measure and that its members will return to work after the end of the strikes on 28 June,” according to the BBC.
However, Reuters reported that the more militant CGT union has rejected the legislation and “will pursue wildcat strikes from July.”
The vote is seen as a political victory for the French president. The AFP stated:
“Having refused to back down on the key elements of his plan, Macron may have cleared his path for equally tricky reforms to France’s strained pension system and vast public sector.”