Travellers warned to expect disruption as French airport workers strike

Airport bosses warned travellers to expect disruption at Paris airports after unions issued a two-day strike notice in an ongoing dispute over new contracts and working conditions.

Published: 9 July 2021 13:09 CEST

Travellers warned to expect disruption as French airport workers strike

Photo: Geoffroy van der Hasselt | AFP

“On Friday July 9th and Saturday, July 10th disruption is possible at Paris’ Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly airports, particularly on road access. We advise you to allow extra time for your arrival at the airport,” operator Groupe ADP warned.

Some 350 striking workers had gathered at Charles de Gaulle, and another 200 outside Orly’s Terminal 4 on Friday morning. But unlike last week, police were on hand to stop them going inside or blocking airport buildings.

So far, there has been no disruption to flights, France Info has reported.

Last week, strikers got inside and blocked access to CDG’s terminal 2E, which mostly deals with flights outside Europe, prompting some flight delays but no cancellations.

The latest strike, which is set to end at 7am on Sunday, July 11th, is part of an ongoing dispute is over a plan by ADP to bring in new work contracts for employees at the airports, which unions say will lower pay, and lead to job losses and a reduction in rights and bonuses for employees.

ADP has initiated a collective termination of agreement which involves 1,150 positions, of which 700 will not be replaced.

The strike is being jointly called by the CGT, CFE-CGE, Unsa, CFDT and FO unions, who said in a joint press release that the proposals will “definitively remove more than a month’s salary from all employees and force them to accept geographical mobility that will generate additional commuting time”.

Additionally, unions have said that employees risk losing their jobs if they refuse to sign the new contracts.

A new round of talks to end the dispute have been scheduled for Monday, July 12th – with unions saying they are prepared to keep up the pressure with protests until September, if necessary.

Member comments

Anonymous - 10 July 2021 at 08:05 CEST

Unions? Don’t you just love them. Their members have been off and on reduced wages but let’s go on strike for more money.

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In a message sent to staff on Thursday evening, its management said the buildings in central Paris “will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3rd. We ask you to continue to work from home”.

A committee of pro-Palestinian students earlier on Thursday announced a “peaceful sit-in” at Sciences Po and said six students were starting a hunger strike “in solidarity with Palestinian victims” in war-torn Gaza.

Sciences Po is widely considered France’s top political science school and counts President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni.

Echoing tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a series of protests, with some furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.

France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.

The Paris regional authority’s right-wing head Valerie Pécresse temporarily suspended funding to Sciences Po earlier this week over the protests, condemning what she called “a minority of radicalised people calling for anti-Semitic hatred”.

The war started with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 129 captives seized by militants during their attack remain in Gaza. The military says 34 of them are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34,596 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

A member of the student committee who identified himself only as Hicham said the hunger strikes would continue until the university’s board voted on holding an investigation into its partnerships with Israeli universities.

Sciences Po’s acting administrator Jean Basseres said he had refused that call during a debate with students, held at the university in a bid to calm days of protests.

Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau earlier on Thursday called on university heads to “keep order”, including by calling in the police if needed.