Another day of disruptions at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. The strike started Thursday by firefighters continues Saturday, July 2 and should be spread over the weekend. The firefighters were joined by other employees of the ADP group, the manager of Paris airports, and its subcontractors. This movement disrupts traffic and hundreds of flights have already been canceled. Franceinfo returns to this strike which worries the government, as the first wave of major departures on summer vacation is looming in a week.
⚠️Social movement at #CDG #Orly Saturday 2/7: disturbances to be expected.
➡️Check the news of your flight with your airline.
➡️Plan to arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before a medium-haul flight, 3 hours before a long-haul flight.https://t.co/NDvESH3rfy— Paris Airport (@ParisAeroport) July 1, 2022
1Who is striking and for what reasons?
At Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, France’s largest airport, firefighters have been on strike since Thursday. They are demanding a raise in their wages. The first negotiations took place on Friday between the firefighters and the management of the ADP group, but they were unsuccessful. The firefighters are “dissatisfied with the management’s proposals” on their salary scale, Daniel Bertone, secretary general of the CGT of Groupe ADP, told AFP on Friday evening.
According to the trade unionist, the employees are demanding a 6% revaluation with retroactive effect from January 1, to compensate for inflation. Management proposed 4% on July 1, he said. According to him, this increase did not catch up with the 5% drop accepted by employees as part of the cost reduction plan decided by ADP in the face of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020-2021. Management has not confirmed these numbers. She just clarified that “the negotiations have not been successful, but the social dialogue remains open”.
The fire soldiers were joined in their movement on Friday by other ADP employees and subcontractors as part of an inter-union and inter-professional movement which also relates to remuneration and working conditions. Their notice runs until Sunday, July 3. “Since the Covid crisis, a lot of colleagues have been made redundant. We find ourselves doing the work of three people”testified Anissa Belabbas, regulator, employee of the 3S Alyzia group and CGT representative. “We need people who know the job. Otherwise we ask you for higher rates”, she believes.
2What are the disruptions?
The firefighters’ strike at Roissy has already forced companies to cancel one flight out of six on Thursday and Friday between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., i.e. 17% of flights departing from or arriving at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle on these times. , according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC). The canceled flights on Friday represented 100 aircraft movements out of the 1,300 scheduled for the day. On Saturday, this proportion rose to one flight in five, according to the DGAC. Traffic at Orly, which was also affected by the strike call, was not affected.
Like the previous two days, Air France announced the cancellation of around 10% of its short and medium-haul flights on Saturday. These preventive cancellations were requested by the administration as a security measure. Long-haul, on the other hand, will not be affected. In order to better manage this social movement and the influx of travellers, the ADP group reiterated its appeal to passengers. He invites them to arrive in advance, namely “three hours [avant le décollage prévu] for an international flight, two hours for a domestic or European flight”.
This social movement also disrupts road access to Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. As of Friday, Paris Aéroport announced on Twitter a demonstration of striking agents in front of terminals A and C and advised travelers to come or leave Charles-de-Gaulle with the RER C or the CDGVal shuttle.
3What are the terms of reimbursement?
“If one of your flights is canceled by the company due to a staff strike, you are entitled to reimbursement of the canceled plane ticket or to re-routing to the destination of this canceled flight under comparable transport conditions”ensures West France the European Consumer Center (CEC) France. In addition, each traveler is entitled to compensation, adds the CEC. “This compensation is due to you even if the company has refunded your ticket. It is an additional compensation”specifies the service-public site.
The amount of compensation is 250 euros for a flight of 1,500 kilometers or less, 400 euros for flights over 1,500 kilometers within the EU, 400 euros for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometers outside the EU and 600 euros for a flight of more than 3,500 kilometers outside the EU. This compensation can be reduced by half if your airline offers you another flight. “The arrival time must then not exceed the scheduled arrival time of the flight initially booked”, says the service-public site. In the event of a dispute with the company, which does not respond or refuses to compensate, you can file a complaint with the DGAC, warns the service-public site.
In the event that the company offers you a replacement flight, the company must take care of it free of charge while waiting for the next flight “refreshments, catering, two communications (telephone calls, SMS, emails) and hotel and transfer costs between the hotel and the airport if departure cannot take place before the next day”lists the service-public site.
Nevertheless, “compensation may be refused in the event of a strike by personnel outside the company (air traffic controllers, for example)”, adds the site. So be careful, because the firefighters on strike since Thursday are not part of the staff of a company.
4Can the strike last this summer?
This strike may not be the last of the summer. Daniel Bertone, the secretary general of the CGT of the ADP group, argues that new notices have been submitted for the following weekend, that of the first wave of major departures. A possibility that does not please the government. The executive will “continue to exchange with the unions to find a way out of the crisis”assured Friday Olivia Grégoire, the government spokeswoman. “The idea that our compatriots cannot go on vacation is not viable”, she added. Thursday, associations of tour operators estimated that the disruptions at airports in recent weeks were doing “fear the worst for the holidays and trips of the French men and women”.
The movement of firefighters and employees of the ADP group is not the only threat hanging over airports. “The strikes will be repeated, we will continue all summer if necessary”warned Friday on franceinfo Christelle Auster, the president of the National Union of Commercial Flight Crew (SNPNC), which represents the hostesses and stewards of most airlines and asks “the application of labor law and the payment of overtime”. A strike call has been launched at Ryanair for the weekend, in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Portugal.