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Potential French general strike Wednesday 9/3?
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Anyone know much about this and whether it's likely to affect resorts? I'm in le grand bornand that week.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Not seen anything in the local paper yet - will keep an eye out for 'Une Greve générale.'

PS welcome to sH Very Happy
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks! A French friend posted it on Facebook, with something like 70k likes and growing. Could be entirely unofficial and so minimal impact but any info appreciated!
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It hasn't made the English Newspapers yet in France but from what I can make out the unions representing the workers of SNCF and RATP (the national railway and Paris transport) have lodged a notice to strike with the authorities (a legal requirement). The strike itself has not yet been validated, they are arguing for more pay.

Meanwhile a group of radical left wingers has launched an appeal for a 'Day of Action' on the streets to protest against a new 'Workers Law', this is the one being stoked on FB. If I understand it correctly, the official unions are not so happy about this as it will detract from their campaign!!

If you are in resort then there is likely to be little impact, if previous strikes are anything to go by, maybe no papers in the shop Shocked Remember there are 500, 000 French capitalists, 400 000 live in London, the rest are in the Alps!! wink wink
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

SNCF, RATP : appel à la grève le 9 mars pour l’emploi et les conditions de travail
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Well, first i must thank Deez for flagging this up.
Second, i mistook the the day and came home crowing to Wonderful Wife that fortunately we were travelling on day after the strike, only to be told that "No we weren't: we were travelling Eurostar then SNCF to Aime on March 9th!" Boogah!! Sad
So, we've phoned around and Googled a lot: the strike is still On.
Eurostar have cancelled some trains in anticipation:
http://www.eurostar.com/be-en/travel-information/service-information/eurostar-service-update
Fortunately not our train.
But we won't know about French trains until at least tomorrow.
SNCF site suggests 50% of trains will run Smile , but also says Eurostar will run as normal Confused
So we've organised "Back-up".
Now we just Wait-and-See" . . .

Interesting there is hardly any discussion of this strike in French news.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Jonpim wrote:

Interesting there is hardly any discussion of this strike in French news.


https://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&gl=fr&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=greve+sncf&oq=greve+sncf&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j0l9j43i53.552.3433.0.3672.10.9.0.1.1.0.219.1287.1j7j1.9.0...0.0...1ac.1.9VK8kbKUiDk
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

For what it's worth the last time I was affected by a "general" strike I could get to Chambery on my usual TGV, but all the local TER trains were out of action.

That meant it was not possible for me to get onward travel from Chambery to Moutiers, Aime & Bourg. I deferred travel by one day - Eurostar gave me a new ticket for no charge (good) but the TGV to Chambery was full - every seat taken (terrible).

The TER website is http://www.ter.sncf.com/rhone-alpes

If taking the overnight train from Paris you won't have the TER problem.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.

Ah, davidof, thank you: i used the French Google, but made the mistake of using English for the search terms rolling eyes

And thank you AndrewsPeppers for the TER website. My French journey involves a change at Lyon. Fingers crossed . . .
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads

Further info.
The strike has had considerable impact.
As mentioned earlier: eurostar have cancelled some trains
And my train down to Lyon has been cancelled, and the follow on train to Aime now only goes as far as Chambery.

We are flying to Lyon and then getting picked up by a friend.

Now some praise for Captain Train
If i had booked throuth SNCF i would now have to go to a French railway station and ask for a form, fill it in, and hope they would give a refund for the whole journey.
But i booked through Captain Train.
I emailed them this morning, and i got the full refund within minutes.
Superb service.
And i have always found them most helpful with any problems i may have encountered.
Easily the best agency for booking French rail tickets.

Oh, and Eurostar came up trumps too.
With the ordinary tickets you can't get a refund.
But you can exchange them (fee £30), but only within the standard six month window: that took us up to September.
No use: we won't need Eurostar until next winter.
(and it was worth going for the exchange as our tickets are for Standard Premier)
Well, after a bit of discussion, they came up with a most sensible compromise:
Our tickets have been moved to September 4th for free, and then later we can exchange again for tickets in December or beyond.
Excellent. Very Happy
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