Open Letter to the Workers of SNCF

Chers messieurs/dames:

Look, nobody is more pro-union than I am. Any of my friends will tell you that. So too, for that matter, will a number of ex-friends for whom I lost all respect when they showed their true colors on looking out for anyone but themselves. I did my own fair share of organizing in my time, and was both praised and vilified for it. I was called a whiner, a bleeding-heart and worse. On one occasion, a guy I had once considered a friend called me a liar in an e-mail he CC’d to the entire Yale international relations community. All totally worth it, and I’m damn proud to have been on your side then and now. John Prine said it best: "I’d rather have names thrown at me, than to fight for a thing that ain’t right." I hope you get your living wages and better working conditions and all that you’re fighting for, really.

That said, mes amis, what on earth do you think you’re going to prove by having no service at all to much of the Ile de France for days at a time? Do you think it’s going to make a centime’s worth of difference to the people who will actually make the decisions regarding your demands? They aren’t going to be stranded out in the suburbs, facing the prospect of eating the cost of their TGV tickets because they can’t get to Gare de L’Est. They have cars. The biggest of the bigwigs probably also have chauffeurs, if it comes to that. It’s no skin off their noses if those of us who actually ride the trains can’t do so.

I wouldn’t complain much about reduced service, like during the last strike. Then, I was still able to get where I needed to go. It took a little longer, but I didn’t really mind given the cause, and you were still able to drive your point home. Speaking of driving, you know who really loves you right now, don’t you? Taxi drivers. Seeing as there’s no other way for many of us to get into Paris, they’re cleaning up. Of course, the one I drew tried to dupe me into believing there was no train service anywhere and I’d have to use his services to get into Paris, to the tune of 40 euros or so. I wasn’t fooled and I got to Velizy in plenty of time to catch the one train on the C line that was still running, but still, not cool!

And neither is neglecting us out in the farther reaches of your network. You don’t want to lose the sympathy of your customers, do you? And trust me, if a union loses my respect, it probably isn’t going to keep anybody’s!

Yours in struggle,
A frequent client who is glad as a clown that he won’t be going back to Paris for two weeks.