The agreement on an average salary increase of 2.2% at the SNCF in 2025 was validated after the signature of two unions, the management of the railway company announced on the afternoon of Friday, November 29. It had proposed such an increase on November 20, but had conditioned the application of certain measures on the signing of the agreement by at least two of the four representative organizations.
These increases include advances based on seniority and individual increases of 1.7%, while the overall salary increase will be 0.5%. The labor bonus for railway workers will also increase by 15 euros per month. The SNCF had also announced that it would maintain its commitment to not have salaries below the minimum wage, increased by 10%, as long as two of the organizations sign the agreement. Otherwise, the only commitment that would be maintained would be that of low wages, with the 0.5% increase disappearing. The unions had until Friday to respond.
However, UNSA-Ferroviaire (second union in the group) and CFDT-Cheminots (fourth) signed the agreement, the management explained in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse. The UNSA-Ferroviaire (22.1% of the votes in the last professional elections) and the CFDT-Cheminots, rather reformist, are not the majority; This last union obtained 15.94% of the votes in the last elections.
Protect purchasing power
This file of mandatory annual negotiations (NAO) is a priori different from that of the dismantling of Fret SNCF and the conditions of opening to competition, two points of disagreement with the management that led all the company’s unions to call the workers railway workers on strike since December 11.
The SNCF management, stating “aware of employee expectations (…)All proposed measures, including the average increase of 2.2%, will therefore be applied in their interest. salaries, he confirmed.
The average increase will be 0.7 percentage points above inflation, expected at 1.5% according to the Banque de France. “This is the fourth year [d’affilée] that the salary increases (…) protect the purchasing power of railway workers by being higher than inflation »argued the SNCF management. “This NAO agreement is possible thanks to the good results of the SNCF group, which are positive for six consecutive semesters. “It will have no impact on taxpayers and travelers.”he added.
“It’s not up to par”
SUD-Rail (third union of the group) judged this agreement “not up to par”. The text was also not signed by the CGT-Cheminots, the company’s first union organization. The UNSA-Ferroviaire defended its signature, estimating in a brochure that its position allowed “to avoid a scenario of total salary freeze” and of “guarantee the implementation of all negotiated measures”.
“We ended this period of high inflation that manifested itself in an increase in salaries of 17% compared to an inflation that stood at 13%” between 2022 and 2024, the management recalled on November 20.
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These important salary increases, after years of freezing, have made it possible to raise the lowest salaries of the group, which are now at the level of the minimum wage plus 10% of the minimum, that is, 1,580 euros net. The SNCF management has decided to suspend these salary negotiations in November. Starting next year, they will take place at the end of the first quarter, just after the company’s annual results are published.
