Negotiations to avoid a strike by air traffic controllers on Thursday have failed, their main union announced (AFP/Archives/Fred TANNEAU)
Thursday promises to be very difficult for air travelers: French air traffic controllers are forecasting a “record mobilization” after the failure of negotiations on measures to support an overhaul of air traffic control, in particular increases salary.
“We consider that there is a failure of negotiations, of conciliation” with the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, declared to AFP a national secretary of the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA, majority) under cover of anonymity.
“We have a record mobilization, and therefore we must expect very strong disruptions, very big delays” on Thursday, added this official.
The SNCTA and other trade union organizations representing air traffic controllers have filed a strike notice for April 25 in order to demand measures to support the reform of the sector deemed to be adequate.
The negotiations, which began 15 months ago, aim to overhaul the organization of air traffic control in France, the idea being to “increase productivity”, explained the head of the SNCTA.
This will notably involve a reduction from 30 to 16 of “approach control centers”, from which planes about to land are guided, but also “to disengage from an unknown number of aerodromes”, he added.
Questions of work organization but also training are on the agenda of the negotiations, the context being that of a planned increase in air traffic of 20 to 30% by 2030, while a third of the current 4,000 controllers must retire in the early 2030s, according to the unionist.
The SNCTA wants to “support this search for performance” via salary increases which would bring them closer to “European social standards”, he argued, stressing that the operation would be meaningless for the French taxpayer since the budget of the DGAC is supplemented by fees paid by airlines.
– More than 70% of flights canceled in some places? –
“Our European counterparts are paid two to three times our salaries,” according to him. The SNCTA is demanding a 25% increase in remuneration, spread over the years 2023-2027, which it believes would leave room for the DGAC to continue to invest.
For Unsa ICNA, the second representative union of controllers, the reform is synonymous with “excessive flexibility (…), disorganization in the management of control rooms, dirigisme, restrictions on leave, excessive anticipation constraints, assumed maintenance understaffing, reduction of services. According to them, the administration is “openly choosing social conflict”, attacking “all the pillars” of the profession.
For its part, the DGAC stressed Monday evening that discussions remained possible until Tuesday noon, the deadline for declaring itself a striker, and did not wish to make further comments on the substance of the negotiations.
The legal framework for air traffic controller strikes has recently been reformed, with a law promulgated at the end of 2023 with the support of the SNCTA requiring any airline agent to individually declare their participation in a strike action no later than noon two days before.
In the event of a strike, the administration asks airlines to give up part of their flight schedules departing from or arriving at French airports, in order to match available personnel and the number of planned movements.
From a source close to the matter, these “reductions” could affect up to more than 70% of flights at certain airports on Thursday, while the spring school holidays are still underway in two of the three major academy groups.
The DGAC usually publishes its forecasts the day before the strike days, in this case Tuesday.
Air traffic was severely disrupted by strikes by air traffic controllers in early 2023, during the pensions conflict in France. These social movements also affect overflights of the territory, which arouses the ire of foreign companies.
In September 2023, the SNCTA and the Unsa ICNA had adopted the principle of an “Olympic truce”, i.e. not to strike for salary reasons between now and the end of the Olympic Games (July 26 to August 11) and Paralympics (August 28 to September 8). The SNCTA is committed not to strike during the Games, its manager reiterated on Monday.
© 2024 AFP
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