The delays are supposed to “be absorbed around 2:00 p.m.”, said Groupe ADP, which was pleased to have anticipated this day of strike, thus avoiding too many inconveniences for travelers.
On Wednesday, the airport manager announced the cancellation of a hundred flights Thursday morning, a quarter of the planned program, in order to limit traffic disruptions linked to the social movement.
In the procession of demonstrators, called to mobilize in front of terminal 2E by seven trade unions (CGT, FO, CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC, Unsa and SUD), the watchword was simple: 300 euros increase for all employees working on the Roissy platform.
“If we don’t increase salaries, no one will come,” warns Yves Joulin, Unsa general secretary at Air France. With the rapid resumption of air traffic, airports find themselves overwhelmed and understaffed to manage passenger flows after two years of crisis linked to Covid-19 during which many airline employees lost their jobs.
“We have been understaffed for two years, we are constantly under pressure and the salary does not follow”, describes Oumar Aw, employee of Transdev Cargo, an Air France subcontractor in charge of freight.
“In freight we have not experienced the crisis, we have always worked,” adds his colleague, CGT union representative Hassan Echatoui. “The masks delivered during the pandemic from China are us,” he insists, denouncing lousy wages, “the lowest on the whole platform”.
Among the employees mobilized, many come from subcontracting, which suffered a lot during the health crisis. Principals such as Air France, whose activity was reduced to almost zero in March 2020, first sought to save money in the contracts binding them to these companies.
“We haven’t had a pay rise for five years,” says Imad Dachroune, ramp agent at 3S Alizia and Sud Aérien union representative.
“In some companies like AHP in Orly, there are 80% temporary workers,” he denounces. He also underlines the deterioration of working conditions with the sudden return to activity: “with us, half of the employees (out of 155) are on sick leave or in an accident at work”.
