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STRIKES

Breaking: Paris airport workers call off strike

The unions at Paris airports operator ADP have lifted their strike notice for Wednesday following an agreement with their management on the payment of a bonus linked to the Paris Olympic Games, the two parties said on Tuesday.

Breaking: Paris airport workers call off strike
Paris-Orly airport. Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

“A majority agreement was reached today (July 16th) between three representative trade unions and ADP SA management.

“As a result of this agreement, the strike notice for July 17th has been lifted’, said management.

The agreement was confirmed to AFP by the secretary general of ADP’s CFDT union.

Unions had called for a stoppage on Wednesday to press for bigger Olympics bonuses and staff recruitment.

They have now secured a “standardised bonus for every worker at ADP” as well as extras for those helping with Olympic delegations and their baggage, management said.

Along with Paris’ train stations, ADP-operated Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports will be the main gateways into France for foreign visitors to the Olympics, as well as athletes and their equipment.

The company has spent €50 million upgrading its infrastructure and French authorities are deploying extra resources to make the experience as smooth and safe as possible.

Charles de Gaulle is expecting peaks of 300,000 travellers passing through in a single day, well above the summer daily average of 200,000.

The busiest days are expected to come after the Olympics closing ceremony on August 11th when spectators, officials and most of the 10,000 athletes will head home.

Once out of the terminals, regular travellers will find multi-lingual “welcome teams” offering advice on travel and buying tickets at the train stations.

Police are also set to step up patrols against pickpockets.

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Dancers call off strike threat to Paris Olympics ceremony

Hundreds of dancers who were threatening to strike during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday have called off their protest after receiving a new pay offer, their union said.

Dancers call off strike threat to Paris Olympics ceremony

The performers secured a rise in compensation for broadcasting rights during a final round of talks with Paris 2024 organisers on Wednesday, the SFA-CGT union said in a statement.

“This period has concluded with a victory, which although it is not total, is nonetheless a response to the urgent issues raised,” it said.

The union, which says it represents around 10 percent of the 3,000 performers involved in the opening ceremony, filed a strike notice last week over what it said were “outrageous disparities” in pay between dancers.

The deal agreed on Wednesday means that the lowest-paid dancers would receive between €160 to €240 extra for their performance on Friday evening, a union member involved in the negotiations told AFP.

Some of them had protested on Monday during rehearsals by the river Seine by stopping and holding their fists aloft for eight minutes.

READ MORE: Where to watch the Paris Olympics opening ceremony

The threat was an unwelcome development for organisers and risked deepening France’s reputation for labour disputes just as the eyes of the world fall on Paris for the start of the Games.

A whole host of French public sector workers have threatened strikes or stopped work ahead of the Olympics to demand bonuses for working over the July 26-August 11 event, which coincides with the summer holidays.

One-off payments of up to €1,900 have been agreed for police and municipal workers in Paris.

The opening ceremony is set to take place over a six-kilometre stretch of the river Seine, with around 6,000-7,000 athletes expected to sail down the river on 85 boats.

It will be the first time a summer Olympics has opened outside of the main athletics stadium.

A small union at Paris airport operator ADP has also filed a strike notice for Friday.

ADP management reached an agreement last week with most labour groups to end a dispute over Olympic bonuses.

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