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STRIKES

UPDATED: The days to avoid train and plane travel in France this April

The strike calendar for April in France is filling up with Air France unions announcing four new dates and rail workers set for 34 more days of industrial action. Here's an updated look at the days you might want to avoid plane and train travel this spring.

Published: 5 April 2018 22:38 CEST
UPDATED: The days to avoid train and plane travel in France this April

If you are coming to France in the next few days and months or you just live in France and rely on train travel then there are quite a few dates to get in your diary. (SEE full calendar below.)

Rail workers have long since made their intentions clear to hold a series of two-day rolling strikes until April 28th.

The first of these two-day strikes was held on Tuesday April 3rd and Wednesday April 4th and rail users were given a sign of what they can expect over the coming weeks with services severely disrupted.

Only one out of eight high-speed TGV trains were running and only a quarter of services in the Paris region.

Rail workers believe the tactic of striking for two days, then returning to work for three days, before another two day strike will maximize the disruption to the rail network whilst not hitting them as hard in the pocket as a continuous rolling strike.

The dates below in blue show when the rail strikes are due to take place. Unions have vowed they will go ahead unless the government backs down on its reform plans. Both sides seem determined to fight their corner so it looks unlikely a compromise will be reached that will see the strikes called off.

Air France workers, including pilots, cabin crews and ground staff, have also been getting in on the action too.

They have been holding a number of one-day strikes since February but have now decided to tighten the screw on company chiefs by announcing four new dates. Significantly they coincide with the rail workers strike as unions for the airline's workers, who are fighting for a 6 percent pay rise, want to maximize disruption.

The four dates announced are April 17th and 18th plus April 23rd and 24th.

The dates in the calendar with a red mark under them are when Air France staff are due to strike in April. On previous strike days around a quarter of flights have been cancelled to and from airports all over France.

With Air France bosses insisting the company will only offer a 1 percent pay rise to staff a compromise that would see the industrial action called off does not seem likely either.

In which case anyone relying on plane or train travel over the next few months might want to make alternative plans. CLICK HERE If you need information on what to do if you need to cancel your tickets.

Alert: The Local France is having to change with the times and will soon be asking readers to become paying members of our site. Up until April 10th we are offering readers 50 percent off membership so €2.49/month or €24.99/year. CLICK HERE for more information and for how to join.

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
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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