Airport staff at Paris’ airports have called off a strike scheduled for today, after a deal was reached with the Aéroports de Paris (ADP) operator during yesterday’s talks.
ADP, which is controlled by the French state with a majority of 50.6% runs the French capital’s two major airports, Orly and Roissy Charles de Gaulle, which are expected to see record traveller numbers amid the Olympics, with 15,000 athletes from the 208 delegations expected to arrive in the city in July.
The strike, announced last week, was scheduled ahead of the Olympics, which kick off next Friday, and one day before the opening of the Olympic village. Workers represented by France’s second largest union, the Confederation General du Travail (CGT), as well as the FCDT, FO and UNSA, were denouncing “unilateral decisions from the chief executive” and selective bonuses for only some of the people.
“We’re lifting the strike warning, there’s a majority deal”, said Rachid Eddaidj, secretary general of the CFDT. The deal “was finalised today between three representative unions and ADP management”, the airport operator also confirmed.
The staff have been guaranteed “standardised bonus for every worker at ADP” during the Olympic period. Moreover, those tasked especially with tending to the delegations and dealing with the oversized luggage of the athletes, such as canoes, bikes and poles, will receive further pay supplements.
Charles De Gaulle airport is expecting records of 300,000 passengers a day, including athletes, coaches, officials and spectators, significantly more than the usual 200,000 passengers a day normally passing through the airport during the summer holiday period. The busiest days are expected right after the closing ceremony, on 11 August, with most of the participants and attendees returning home. Moreover, whereas in any other year, ADP sees around 1,000 pieces of oversized luggage across its airports, from the 115,000 pieces expected over the Olympics and Paralympics period, 17,000 will be oversized.
The group has spent €50 million to upgrade infrastructure at the two airports to ensure smooth operations, including the creation of a dedicated bag sorting facility at Orly and increasing the capacity of baggage handling systems at Charles De Gaulle to 1,800 bags per hour for departures and 6,000 bags per hour for arrivals.
