Workers at Paris' three air traffic control centres have been strking since Monday.
The strikes led to 50% of flight from Orly airport being cancelled with many others suffering delays of up to five hours. Marseille, Nice, Lyon and Toulouse airports were forced to cancel flights to Orly knowing that they would not be able to land. The Airport at Roissy was largely unaffected.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) strike observance on Wednesday was at roughly the same level as the previous day with 38% at Athis-Mons, 45% at Orly and 5% at Roissy joining the strikes. It is being estimated that 2000 passengers are being left stranded a day at a cost of one million euros.
The legal strike notice for Roissy and Athis-Mons expires today but workers at Orly may continue until Friday. After the weekend the CGT has given noticed of a strike action at all three centres from the 18th to the 22nd.
The CGT originally stated that is was not willing to negotiate over plans to merge the Orly and Roissy sites in 2011 with a view to merging all three centres on the Athis-Mons site by 2017. The DGAC has refused to cancel the plans. The CGT national secretary said today that the DGAC had to consult with air traffic controllers over the plans, adding: "We don't want to start an unlimited strike."
Patrick Gandil, director of the DGAC, described the strike action as a "disproportionate" reaction, claiming that no jobs were under threat and that "We're not asking workers to move house, all they are being asked to do is to travel from the north of the Ile de France region to the south a few days a week." The distance between the control centres is at least 40km and would include either crossing or going around Paris.
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