A strike is disrupting air traffic this weekend at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle. First social movement of the summer season, summer could be hot on the transport front. Update this Saturday, July 2, 2022.
Panic at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle. A firefighters’ strike severely disrupts departures and arrivals from France’s largest airport. Flights are canceled for security reasons this Saturday, July 2, 2022.
firefighters on strike
Some of the firefighters employed by the ADP group have been on strike since Thursday. They are demanding wage increases. According France Info, negotiations took place this Friday with management, without success. On Friday, the firefighters were joined by other group employees and other subcontractors. The movement has grown and is now demanding better working conditions. The strike could last until Sunday July 3.
As a result of the firefighters’ strike, the airport services are forced to limit the number of simultaneous departures and arrivals on the runways. Air France, for its part, announced the elimination of around 10% of its flights. The ADP group advises passengers to get there “three hours (before, editor’s note) for an international flight, two hours for a domestic or European flight.”
Lost baggage
But the strike also affects passengers who managed to depart. As reported BFM TV, Friday, during the day, the baggage of several flights was not boarded, following a “technical problem”. According to the latest figures, more than half of the passengers on Friday found themselves without their luggage.
“You should know that about 50% of the people who left yesterday left without their luggage or with someone else’s luggage, which is contrary to the security rules. So there is probably luggage which are permanently lost. And honestly, the solution in the immediate future, there is none”, assures Emmanuel Duchemin-Humbert, representative Force Ouvrière Aéroports de Paris, quoted by BFMTV.
Worry about summer
This first strike episode of the summer season may not be the last. Daniel Bertone, secretary general of the CGT of the ADP group announces to France Info that new notices have been filed for the next weekend.
But hostesses and stewards could also join the movement. Christelle Auster, president of the National Union of Commercial Flight Crew (SNPNC), confirms to our colleagues that the “strikes will be repeated” this summer.
A situation that worries the government a few days before the big departures on vacation. The summer will be hot, before a return to school which also promises to be social.