SNCF moves jobs out of France

SEVERAL hundred IT jobs with state rail company SNCF are to be lost and switched from France to eastern Europe and Spain.

French IT company Steria lost the contract to monitor software and CGT Cheminots union leader Hervé Giudici said 260 sub-contractors' jobs would be lost along with 45 rail workers.

In all, he said, by next year 500 jobs would go, with the majority ending up in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Around 2,200 rail staff and 2,500 contract workers work on SNCF's IT systems, in bookings, station signage and train movements, Guidici said.

The union fears that further jobs will be switched to sub-contractors and, possibly, also head out of the country.

IBM and Spanish company Sopra won the new monitoring contracts and SNCF president Guillaume Pepy said that they affected "just 150 staff out of the 250,000 employed by SNCF".

Rail union SUD feared communication problems with Polish and Czech workers controlling French stations and rolling stock.
Photo: © BulleandFlox - Fotolia.com