The strike was called on October 7 over a labor dispute related to the implementation of the collective agreement. Initially, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility had established minimum service levels averaging 72%, so OUIGO only canceled the services falling outside that percentage and prepared its operations to guarantee the remaining departures.
The situation changed after the company learned this Thursday of the ruling issued Wednesday by the National Court, which provisionally suspended the Ministry's decision on minimum service levels. According to OUIGO, this decision makes it impossible to guarantee which trains will be able to run during the strike, so it has opted to cancel the entire schedule to avoid "greater confusion at stations" and further disruption for passengers.
The nearly 20,000 affected passengers are being informed via the email addresses linked to their bookings. In addition to free ticket changes or a full refund, OUIGO has announced additional compensation of up to 200% of the ticket price for all of them.
Trains scheduled for Saturday, October 31, and Sunday, November 1, will operate as normal. The company says it is keeping dialogue open with Semaf in an effort to reach an agreement and has reiterated its support for the rail sector as a whole and for those affected by the serious accident that occurred this Wednesday.
