Will the right to strike of air traffic controllers be restricted? This is in any case what is provided for in a bill that must be examined by the Senate on June 15. It was presented by centrist senator Vincent Capo-Canellas, who considers it necessary to align the rules applicable to air traffic controllers to those that apply to airlines. Workers who wish to respond positively to a work stoppage initiated by their union representatives must go on strike 48 hours in advance.
But why restrict the right to strike of air traffic controllers? Because of the impact of these social movements. Since the beginning of the year, the milestone of forty days of strike has been exceeded. With, most of the time, very few strikers except that the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics, without wanting to take any risk, establishes a minimum service and forces airlines to cancel flights as a preventive measure.
The Ryanair petition signed by more than a million people
The latter have been forced to cancel several thousand flights to or from French airports, harming almost half a million passengers for whom they are not obliged to indemnify, as their responsibility is not engaged. But we must also take into account the overflight of France that this same minimum service complicates more, again causing delays and even flight cancellations.
The European companies affected estimate that close to eleven million passengers have been penalized for these repeated strikes by French air traffic controllers. This is particularly the case for Ryanair, which considers itself to be particularly affected. Europe’s largest airline has even put up a petition online calling for a rule change to preserve the overflight of France by allowing, for example, air traffic controllers from other countries to replace their French counterparts if necessary. . The petition has already been signed by more than a million people.
If Ryanair’s proposals, extremely radical, have almost no chance of success, this is not the case with that of Vincent Capo-Canellas. Not all unions representing air traffic controllers are opposed to the idea of mandatory prior notification of employees who wish to go on strike. But on one condition: that the minimum service imposed on them be less strict, in particular, a smaller number of controllers are required each time a call is made to stop the job.
Source: BFM TV
