The strike by employees of Groupe ADP, manager of the Paris airports of Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly, will continue this weekend. Negotiations between the three representative unions and management have been suspended and must resume “at 9:30 am Monday”, we learned from concordant sources. Until then, the three strike notices “are maintained”, indicated the leaders of the unions Unsa, CGT and CFE-CGC of ADP.
Who says strike, says flight delay like this Friday when around 5 pm, flights were “delayed by an hour” on average at Roissy and “fifteen minutes at Orly”, specified the management of ADP, adding that the delays would be “absorbed around 8 p.m.” at Roissy, while they were “in the process of being absorbed” at Orly. The current notices will be closed “Monday at 7 am”, noted Daniel Bertone, secretary general of the CGT of ADP.
Strike against lowering or removing premiums
With their call for a strike, which includes the first weekend of the big departures on vacation, the three representative unions are calling for the withdrawal of a plan to adapt work contracts (PACT) providing for a reduction or elimination of bonuses. In case of refusal, employees risk dismissal. The proposals made on Friday by the management are insufficient and “we think that it still has cards in the reservoir,” said Laurent Garssine, general secretary of Unsa ADP whose union has already submitted a notice for Friday 9 July .
The Unsa was the only union to call a strike on Thursday, causing delays of 15 minutes on average at the two airports that day. The CGT and CFE-CGC have also filed a new notice. It will be “July 9 and 10” for the CGT, said Daniel Bertone, stressing that Air France ground personnel were also called to strike on July 10. A demonstration is scheduled from 9 am Saturday morning at Roissy and a general assembly of employees is scheduled for 8:30 am in Orly.
Confetti and smoke jets
In Roissy on Friday morning, with confetti and smoke bombs, employees demonstrated at terminal 2E, blocking passenger access to border control posts. This blockage ended at the beginning of the afternoon. According to Daniel Bertone, the police had prevented employees from leaving the terminal. If the passengers were directed to other terminals, some missed their plane because of a lack of personnel at the controls, said an airport source, estimating the number of protesters at 500.
On the signs brandished by the employees appeared the portrait of the CEO of ADP, Augustin de Romanet, grimaced greedy with the slogan “Stop looking for your salaries, I ate them” or “De Romanet: 450,000 euros / year and me fired “. In Orly, 250 people demonstrated, according to the airport source. According to Laurent Garssine, “between 300 and 400 people” marched out of the airport and some “entered terminal 3 for thirty minutes”. Demonstrators were “gassed” by the police, he protested.
“Management is using the crisis to make us permanently lose our gains”
“We reject the PACT project (…). We block with regret ”, underlined in Roissy Luis Mendes, delegate Unsa. “We understand the difficulty of the aviation sector, which is solely due to the health crisis (of the Covid-19). We are ready to make cyclical efforts “but” not structural and definitive. Management is using the crisis to make us permanently lose our gains, ”he accused.
According to the unions, the PACT will result in up to 20% loss of pay for some employees. Augustin de Romanet asserts that “88%” of employees “will not lose more than 4%”. For management, this PACT should allow the necessary savings to be made, while the pandemic has weighed down ADP’s activity. Even if air traffic is picking up steam at Roissy and Orly with holiday departures, it remains well below its pre-crisis level, with 100,000 passengers per day against 200,000 previously.