French unions agreed a deal on Monday which should end an 11-day strike by airport security staff that stretched over the busy Christmas holiday but had little or no effect on traffic.

"/> French unions agreed a deal on Monday which should end an 11-day strike by airport security staff that stretched over the busy Christmas holiday but had little or no effect on traffic.

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Unions agree to end airport security strike

French unions agreed a deal on Monday which should end an 11-day strike by airport security staff that stretched over the busy Christmas holiday but had little or no effect on traffic.

Published: 27 December 2011 08:12 CET

The deal in itself does not end the walkout – striking union members will have to be consulted and vote – but there were signs the movement was losing steam and employers said they expected a settlement within a few days.

Leaders from the FO, CFTC, CFDT and Unsa unions said employers had agreed to pay an annual bonus to staff to appease their wage demands and that many of the workers themselves wanted the conflict to come to an end.

“After consulting our members, we see these proposals as better than nothing,” said Thierry Fressart of the CFDT’s service sector wing.

The CGT union did not sign the accord, but said it would consult members. The strikers had demanded €200 ($160) per month pay rises.

President Nicolas Sarkozy had ordered police to the airports to replace striking workers and avoid delays, and air traffic remained normal in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Lyon Saint-Exupery.

An association representing airports which employ security staff welcomed the union’s decision, and said agents would receive a €1,000 annual bonus, while negotiations on working conditions would start next month.

Workers had earlier met and voted to continue the strike through Monday, and were expected to meet again on Tuesday to decide whether to back the deal agreed by some of their unions or whether to carry on.

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German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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