- Despite the strike, the runway at Geneva Airport was able to reopen.
- There has been a strike since 4 a.m. because of a new wage model that management has approved.
- Air traffic was suspended from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
- The strikers want to continue the work stoppage until Saturday evening.
By noon, 17 planes were able to take off, 25 were ready to take off and 14 were able to land, according to an airport spokeswoman. Traffic got going again, in particular because the employees responsible for traffic on the tarmac returned to their jobs at 10 a.m. as promised. However, cancellations and delays must still be expected. The strike meetings are to gradually decide on the further course of action.
In a statement, Swiss writes that further developments can hardly be foreseen. However, since the employees at the security checkpoints at Geneva Airport are still on strike, significantly fewer passengers can currently be processed in Geneva. This leads to obstacles in air traffic, according to Swiss. She advises her passengers to allow plenty of time for check-in. The airline expects further delays, diversions and cancellations. She has therefore stopped selling tickets for Saturday and Sunday, as she continues to write.
Geneva Airport also made a statement on Friday afternoon. “Flights will resume for the remainder of the afternoon, but delays and cancellations are likely,” the airport said on Twitter.
The new wage model, approved by the board of directors on Thursday, was the reason for this industrial action, which is taking place at the beginning of the long holidays. Almost 54,000 passengers were expected on a total of 394 flights during the day.
proposal rejected
Management “deeply regrets this situation”. An attempt to negotiate with the strikers had failed early in the morning.
The proposals were defeated by the strikers’ assembly. According to the public service union VPOD, these were “some accompanying measures to make the bitter pill easier to bear”.
“We come across dogmatic positions,” said André Schneider, Director General of Geneva Airport, at a press conference earlier in the afternoon. The social partners only wanted the withdrawal of this new model, said Schneider. However, this is not an option, explained Chairman of the Board of Directors Pierre Bernheim. They emphasized that the change in the wage system was absolutely necessary in order to ensure the continued existence of Geneva Airport.
According to the union, around 1,000 employees will be affected by the planned changes, mainly those who work in security areas such as passport control.
The outcome of the conflict currently seems very uncertain. A back door could open on the part of the State Council. Nathalie Fontanet, the magistrate responsible for finance and the airport, met with representatives of the VPOD trade union in the early afternoon.