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STRIKES

LATEST: One fifth of flights in France to be cancelled on Tuesday due to strike action

Airlines have again been asked to cancel 20 percent of flights going to, from or over France on Tuesday December 10th as major strike action against pension reforms continue.

Published: 9 December 2019 15:41 CET
LATEST: One fifth of flights in France to be cancelled on Tuesday due to strike action
Photo: AFP

The French civil aviation authority the DGAC has again asked airlines to cancel 20 percent of their flights on Tuesday, December 10th as strike action over pension reforms continue.

Flights had returned more or less to normal over the weekend after being disrupted on Thursday and Friday – the first days of the strike against President Emmanuel Macron's planned pensions overhaul.

READ ALSO French transport strikes – what happens next and how long will they last?

But on Monday afternoon the DGAC confirmed that it had again asked airlines to alter their schedules.

 

Airline ground crew at Air France are joining mass strike action in protest at plans to reform the French pension system – a move that unions fear will leave workers worse off and having to longer. The official retirement age in France is 62.

READ ALSO What are special pension regimes and why are the French striking over them?

One of the French air traffic controllers unions – although not the main one – has joined the strike, meaning any flight that enters French airspace is potentially affected.

Flights to the two Paris airports – Charles de Gaulle, Orly plus nearby Beauvais – are affected by the cancellations, as well as Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse.

When flights were hit mast week it was mainly internal flights or short haul international flights that were affected by the strike. Long-haul international flights were not affected.

On December 5th Air France were forced to cancel 30 percent of internal flights in France as well as 15 percent of short to medium haul international flights.

Low-cost airline Easyjet were forced to cancel 233 flights to, from and over France.

Anyone flying in to Paris on strike days should also be aware that public transport to and from the airports is badly affected.

READ ALSO Flights, trains, ferries and buses – your strike transport questions answered.

Many unions have declared 'unlimited' strike action as they battle plans to reform and streamline the current, highly complicated system.

 

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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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