Four former employees of RTE, manager of high voltage lines, are on trial before the 13th correctional chamber of the Paris court for “hindering the operation of a system of automated processing of personal data implemented by the State”, “modification” of such a system and “fraudulent introduction of data”. The facts occurred in June and July 2022, in the middle of a social conflict over wages and against the backdrop of the energy crisis. The defendants are suspected of causing a “loss of remote control” of electrical substations on the remote network, preventing the operator from monitoring or controlling them by computer.
The CGT denounces a “union criminalization of strike actions”.
The four defendants, aged 32 to 36, have since been dismissed for these acts. They were taken into custody in October 2022 at the offices of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), which was in charge of the investigation. The CGT denounced a “union criminalization of strike actions that is organized in our companies,” saying that there is “a cabal that is conducted, especially vis-à-vis agents who go on strike and act on the tool of work.
RTE management fears a large-scale incident
For the management of RTE, the charges against the four former employees are serious and concern 400,000 volt substations that have been impacted, on a portion of the network that radiates between large residential areas and the United Kingdom and Belgium. She is concerned that a large-scale incident could occur if she loses sight of what is happening on the power grid. The electrical network is crucial for the proper functioning of the country, hence the importance of ensuring its security.
The mobilization of the CGT and the energy question
The CGT is calling for mobilization on the day of the hearing, calling on the energy sector to go on strike and announcing a rally around the courthouse and other rallies in the regions. The energy issue is indeed a cause for concern in the country, with the fear of seeing the electricity network fail this winter, particularly due to a diminished nuclear fleet. RTE’s management insists on the importance of guaranteeing the security of the electrical network to avoid any large-scale incident.
The procedure in question
For the lawyer of one of the defendants, this is an unprecedented appearance for facts that are usually dealt with internally or that are likely to be a simple contravention. He believes that the chosen procedure demonstrates a desire to punish the social movement and to make an example of it in order to terrorize the employees’ desire to make demands. The technical report commissioned by the Central Works Council (CSE) of RTE concludes that the management contacted the DGSI not for a cyber attack, but to suppress a social movement. The authors of the report question whether RTE acted as an Operator of vital interest or as an employer seeking to suppress the social movement.
