After a year when air passengers were hit by strikes on each major holiday, the government is supporting new legislation on Tuesday to tighten up rules to lessen the chaos.

"/> After a year when air passengers were hit by strikes on each major holiday, the government is supporting new legislation on Tuesday to tighten up rules to lessen the chaos.

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Government moves to cut air travel strikes

After a year when air passengers were hit by strikes on each major holiday, the government is supporting new legislation on Tuesday to tighten up rules to lessen the chaos.

Published: 24 January 2012 10:17 CET

Government moves to cut air travel strikes

Mathieu Marquer

The new rules propose that any worker planning to strike has to inform his or her employers at least 48 hours beforehand. This will give airlines and airports the chance to make alternative arrangements.

Airlines will also be compelled to inform passengers, individually, of any changes to their proposed flights.

The legislation is being introduced by a member of parliament from the governing UMP party, Eric Diard, and has the full backing of the transport minister Thierry Mariani, reported Le Parisien newspaper.

It will be discussed on Tuesday in the country’s lower house, the National Assembly, before moving to the Senate in February.

In 2011, airport security staff took industrial action across the Christmas holiday, causing serious disruption at some of the country’s airports, particularly Lyon.

Action was also taken around the busy All Saints’ holiday at the start of November.

A four day strike in July by Air France cabin crew was called off at the last minute.

The legislation follows successful rules introduced in 2008 on the country’s train and metro networks, which forced a minimum service level during strike periods. Known as the “service minimum”, passengers are guaranteed that there will be at least 20 percent of trains operating even on strike days.

Le Parisien reported that the announcement of the proposed rules themselves provoked calls for industrial action. Pilots have announced they plan to strike in protest from February 4th to 9th.

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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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