For the third day in a row, hundreds of employees at London's Heathrow airport continue to strike to demand an increase in wages, while the strike of air traffic controllers in France continues for the 14th day, and employees of a British airline in Portugal continue their strike since yesterday (Saturday).
The security staff on the fifth runway of Heathrow Airport (Friday) began a 10-day strike after talks failed to reach a settlement for their wages.
Unite union – the second largest labor union in Britain – reported that the strike includes about 1,400 employees, most of whom work in the fifth runway of the airport designated exclusively for British Airways, and the strike also includes staff checking shipments coming to the airport.
For its part, the airport administration announced that it had preempted the strike with an emergency plan that included hiring an additional thousand employees and seeking help from its workers to mitigate its repercussions. Heathrow's chief executive said business at the airport was going on as usual.
In France, the strike of air traffic controllers continues for the 14th day, causing the cancellation of about 25% of flights scheduled for today (Sunday) at Orly airports in Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Nantes.
It is expected that the continuation of the strike will cause the cancellation of additional flights during the next two days. The strikers are calling for dropping the new retirement law, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.
France is living on the impact of trade union protests and demonstrations against the law to raise the retirement age in a number of French cities, led by the capital, Paris, and strikes continue, which included the tourism sector and the labor and educational sectors.
France witnessed – last Tuesday – clashes between the police and hundreds of protesters, in light of the escalation of tension in the country, with the dialogue between the government of President Emmanuel Macron and the unions reaching a dead end.
"1,093 police and firefighters have been injured since the outbreak of protests last March," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told Le Journal du Dimanche, adding that there had been 2,579 arson incidents and 316 attacks on public buildings. Darmanan did not provide any figures on the number of injured protesters, but said 36 officers were under investigation on suspicion of excessive force.
In Portugal, employees of the British low-cost airline easyJet went on strike for 3 days to demand higher wages, which led to the cancellation of some flights.
According to the National Union of Civil Aviation Employees, which called for this mobilization, the company canceled 78 flights over the three days of the strike, which is equivalent to about 30% of the flights programmed when the strike warning was announced on March 17.
Okaz (London, Paris) @OKAZ_ONLINE