FILE – The Olympic rings are installed at the Trocadero Square overlooking the Eiffel Tower, a day after it was officially announced that the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in the French capital, Paris, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. Fans of swimming, gymnastics and track and field will rejoice: For the first time in a European Olympic Games, the finals of those sports will be broadcast live on U.S. network television. (AP Photo//Michel Euler, File)
Trade unions representing workers at Paris airports said on Monday they were calling for a strike a week before the Paris Olympics over a dispute over staff bonuses.
The CGT, CFDT, FO and UNSA unions called a strike on July 17, nine days before the opening of the Paris Olympics, demanding that all staff receive the Olympic bonus and denouncing “the CEO’s unilateral decision to pay the bonus to only some staff”.
Unions at the state-owned ADP Group, which runs Paris’ main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, had called for a strike on May 19 but no major disruptions occurred.
The two airports will be the main gateways into France for foreign tourists attending the Olympics, with up to 350,000 connections expected each day, including most of the athletes and their equipment.
A new temporary oversized baggage terminal has been set up at Charles de Gaulle airport to handle kayaks, bikes and other equipment when athletes are expected to start arriving in large numbers on July 18, when the Olympic Village opens.
Unions representing French public sector workers are demanding extra pay or support for having to work during the Olympics, which run from July 26 to August 11 – France’s traditional summer vacation period.
As well as a company-wide bonus, ADP unions are seeking a “massive” hiring plan to recruit 1,000 extra staff and guaranteed holidays during the Olympics, which run from July 26 to August 11, and the Paralympics, which run from August 28 to September 8.
“All unions have unilaterally condemned management’s divisive tactics and choices,” the unions’ joint statement said. “We are forced to conclude that the CEO has ignored our demands.”
Chief Executive Officer Augustin de Romanee is due to step down after the Olympics.
In France, where labor relations are tense and labor unions are militant, the threat of strikes to disrupt the Paris Olympics has been much discussed.
Organizer Tony Estanguet called for a “truce” for the duration of the tournament.
“We want to welcome the world in the best possible light and not spoil the party,” he told French television in February.
On the eve of the 1998 World Cup in France, pilots of the national airline Air France went on strike along with taxi drivers and other transport workers.
Police, air traffic controllers, garbage collectors, central government employees, subway and train drivers and firefighters are all demanding pay ahead of the Olympics, with management under pressure to make concessions to avoid chaos.
Workers at the National Mint, which manufactures the medals, are also on strike, but management says production has not been affected.
