French air traffic controllers win right to turn up three hours late
- Staff to get pay rises and more holidays under a government deal with the union
Air traffic controllers in France have been given the right to turn up to work three hours late after the government abandoned plans to force them to report for work on time.
Emmanuel Macron’s government has given the airport staff the right to stay in bed during their shifts amid a row with the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers, which threatened to call on its members to walk out before the Paris Olympics.
Controllers have high salaries of up to £93,000-a-year and work 32 hours a week, but can be in 25 per cent less than this, according to French media, with some reportedly going on holiday when they are scheduled to be working.
Staff will now get a pay rise of up to £15,500 and additional benefits including 18 additional days off a year and retirement at 59 thanks to a deal signed by the government, in what is widely seen as a coup for the union.
It comes after planned strikes – which were called off before going ahead – saw hundreds of flights cancelled at the last minute in April, throwing holidays into chaos for tens of thousands of customers.
Controllers have high salaries of up to £93,000-a-year and work 32 hours a week. File image shows air traffic controller at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport
Around a quarter of all flights in France were delayed last year, 24.31 per cent, a slightly lower figure than the UK, were the proportion of late flights is 25.39 per cent.
Amid strike threats last month, cancellation numbers were at their highest ‘in 20 years’, according Augustin de Romanet, CEO of ADP, the company operating the capital’s airports.
French ministers wanted to force controllers to come into work when they are scheduled to as part of new reforms aimed at improving productivity.
But there was a breakdown in negotiations with unions regarding the planned overhaul, with workers demanding it be accompanied with high salaries and threatening strike action.
Amid fears it would cause travel chaos during the Olympics this summer, when hundreds of thousands more visitors are expected, ministers felt forced to sign a deal last week, which was leaked to French media.
The deal is set to cost airlines more than £60 million over the next four years, The Times reports.
News of the deal comes following a series of exposés by French media outlets, who spoke to air traffic controllers about the realities of the job.
French Police officers stand guard in front of the Terminal 1at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport ahead of the Olympics this summer
One told Le Parisien that they were told that they would be ‘paid very well and have a lot of free time’, but had to accept the level of responsibility that goes with the job when they are on the clock.
They added that they check with colleagues to see how busy it is before heading in for a 9am shift – and go back to bed if it’s not too busy.
Another anonymous air traffic controller told Le Point, a news magazine, that managers let people off the hook if they did not come in as long as they were ‘contactable if there is a problem’.
Planned strikes saw hundreds of flights cancelled at the last minute in April (file image shows BA plane at Charles de Gaulle)
‘Sometimes, we found ourselves calling guys who had gone skiing or abroad… Afterwards, you have the other clearances where no one is counting on you, and you can go to the Seychelles if you want.’
They added that it is rarer to be able to ‘skip an entire shift’ at smaller airports, where they said workers ‘call each other to tell each other to come later, or else we are released earlier.’
‘Planning remains between us,’ they said. ‘The hierarchy doesn’t really have a say.’
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