A three-day air traffic controllers strike has been called for June 2nd to June 5th and more stoppages are possible. And they may not be confined to interrupting air travel.
The three-day strike has has the backing of all unions representing the 12,000 workers employed by France's Civil Aviation body the DGAC. Already Ryanair has had to cancel over 70 flights to France tomorrow as another one-day stoppage gets underway.
The next three-day stoppage is proposed to run from Thursday June 2nd to June 5th.
The union said in a statement on Tuesday that "the drop in staff numbers, which has been going on for almost ten years, has become intolerable".
It called on "all staff without exception" to take part in the strike, as they were all affected either directly or indirectly by the reduction in staff numbers and the "multiple service reorganizations".
The DGAC said the union's call to strike was a way of putting pressure on negotiations, but they were still hopeful that the strike wouldn't go ahead.
A spokesman said a final meeting with unions is scheduled for May 31st and only after those negotiations will it become clear if France will be hit by yet another round of strikes.
If the strike did go ahead hundreds of flights to and from French airports could be cancelled.
Tomorrow, a number flights (up to 15 percent) out of Paris Orly airport could be cancelled due to the two strike called by the CGT union who are protesting against France's labour reforms.
In another dispute, one quarter of all French petrol stations were closed or running short of fuel after the same union federation blockaded refineries and depots in a dispute over reforms of employment law.
After the government sent in riot police to clear pickets from a large refinery near Marseille, the union federation retaliated by calling for strikes in all eight of the country’s refineries.
The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) – the largest and oldest of the eight multi-industry trades union federations in France – has also called for an open-ended strike on the Paris Metro from next Thursday and a strike on the French railways from next Thursday. CGT has also called for a one-day strike in power stations on Thursday. CGT also called a strike by air traffic controllers for three days the weekend after next, the weekend before the football tournament begins.
