The so-called Spinetta report recommends transforming SNCF (France's state-run national railway) into a limited liability company, closing down “secondary” lines, opening up to competitors, doing away with the current working conditions of railroad employees and slashing five thousand jobs. In other words, this report is laying the groundwork for the accelerated privatization of SNCF and the destruction of railroad employees' rights.

This is an outright declaration of war, to which the CGT (France’s major union confederation) replied by calling for a day of protest on March 22.

Railroad employees have every reason to fight back and so do all French workers. Given that the government is proudly boasting about the economic recovery and the return of prosperity, no worker should accept to see his working and living conditions get worse. No worker should accept to be treated as a chip in some casino game.

Many commentators and government officials get all worked up when discussing the railway workers’ specific work conditions. The truth is that their conditions have largely deteriorated with the development of outsourcing and the generalization of casual work. Railway workers are far from being privileged!

Bernard Arnaud, Patrick Drahi and the stockholders of France’s biggest companies---like Veolia or Vinci---are the real privileged ones. They live off the exploitation of thousands of wage-earners and have long since used SNCF as a money-making machine. In contrast, railway workers are simply holding on to what is left of their rights.

This is the government's latest attack not only on railway workers but on all workers. Macron is eager to show the French bourgeoisie that he can do what Juppé failed to do. He is intent on bringing railway workers—and the whole working class—into line. And his aim is clear: let’s not forget that he announced 120,000 job cuts in the public sector just a few weeks ago.

Apart from being an attack against all working people, opening up railway transportation to competition and privatizing SNCF would be a huge setback for society.

Those who take the train on a regular basis are well aware of the consequences that the lack of investment has on the railway system.

Many trains are slowed down or cancelled, others arrive late due to a variety of technical problems. Millions of travelers experience these inconveniences... or worse.

Those who explain that privatization will make things better for the public are telling flat-out lies.

A number of financiers are interested in the state’s decision to open up SNCF to competition. They are accustomed to seeing the state cater to them. They expect to lay their hands on SNCF's infrastructures, material and employees at a low cost. Their only problem will be to choose the most profitable parts!

Private capital owners have taken part in the railroad business since the beginning. The railway network was built to satisfy their needs and was a generous source of wealth for many capitalist groups. And thanks to SNCF's indebtedness, bankers have also had their share of the pie.

SNCF has for years been acting like any private sector enterprise. Railway workers are submitted to the same productivity-oriented pressure as the rest of the working class. Travelers are confronted with exorbitant prices during peak periods and with the closing down of trains and lines that are deemed unprofitable.

Today's government wants to take this situation one step further by opening up new opportunities to private capital owners.

In the name of profitability, the government is pushing more and more people to the outer edges of society. This approach leads slowly but surely to a system in which the age of the patient (or the content of his wallet) decides whether he will get an artificial hip joint or not, a system where social security will not cover expensive treatments or where access to a university education is restricted.

Whether it be in hospitals, in retirement homes or in the railway system, making profits a priority and accepting the parasitic nature of capital is contrary to the interests of workers and consumers.

In the battle that they’ve decided to fight against the government, we stand on the side of the railway workers against Macron and the bourgeoisie.