The former Prime Minister was auditioned by the Parliament on Tuesday concerning his appointment at the head of the Régie. Thursday, the company expects a strong mobilization after the call to the unions’ strike to request wage increases and better working conditions.
by Sophie Fay
He is ready. Former Prime Minister Jean Castex, very at ease and voluble, wanted to show the Senate regional planning commission and to the Sustainable Development Commission of the National Assembly that he was the man of The situation to direct the RATP. “A company of more than 70,000 people, after the last calls for tenders won, the third world operator of public transport,” said the candidate during his hearing, assuring that he had no hesitation when “the executive power” proposed to leave the Agency for the financing of infrastructure and transport (AFIT France) and its 25 agents. Nor did he try to minimize the difficulties that await him, if his appointment is confirmed by parliamentarians.
The situation is so tense to the Régie that the rapporteur of the senatorial commission, Philippe Tabarot (Les Républicains, LR), provided Jean Castex from the outset, seeking to avoid negative votes “so as not to ‘Weaken in its mission “. The senator had previously clarified with the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) The meaning of his opinion, favorable to the appointment of Mr. Castex, but prohibiting him “any approach to members of his government when He was Prime Minister “: this will not prevent him from contacting them for current affairs, since the restriction only relates to the subjects linked to the opening of the bus lines, tram or metro.
“A welcome strike”
What awaits the next CEO of RATP? First, “a welcome strike”, quips the senator. “A warning stroke”, we recognize the Human Resources Department of the RATP. The appeal was launched by the unions of the Régie in mid-October to request wage increases and an improvement in working conditions. The movement in Parisian transport promises to be very followed, with seven completely closed lines and only seven open during peak hours, the RATP said. Only lines 1 and 14, completely automated, will circulate normally, but with “a risk of saturation”, warns the management. On the RER, 1 in 3 train will circulate on average on line A, and 1 in 2 on the B during peak hours.
This mobilization is the reflection of a deep discomfort in the company, which saw its CEO, Catherine Guillouard, resign in precipitate for family reasons at the end of September, at the very moment when its deputy director general, Philippe Martin, left retirement. Since then, flaws in the Parisian transport building appear every day, without chief to bite them.
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