Relax - French, British strike action clouds Europe's skies

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PARIS - Staff at Germany’s Lufthansa have brought a swift end to their strike, but action Tuesday by French air traffic controllers and a strike vote by British Airways staff spells more turbulence ahead.

While Lufthansa managed to head off what had been planned as a four-day strike after only one day, the French five-day action was expected to disrupt domestic and European routes, while for the most sparing long-haul flights.

British Airways cabin crew meanwhile voted by more than 80 percent for their strike, the fruit of a long-running and bitter dispute over working conditions.

For Germany’s Lufthansa, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, the decision by pilots to resume talks without preconditions after just 24 hours on strike, was very much a near miss.

If the Cockpit pilots union had gone ahead with their planned four-day strike, it would have been the longest strike in the airline’s history.

An airline spokesman told AFP the carrier had managed to assure around 960 flights on Monday from the daily average of 1,800, after the strike by pilots to press demands over job security and pay issues.

But unions representing 16,000 Lufthansa cabin crew threatened to follow the pilots’ lead if the firm failed to come to terms with them as well.

A wage contract with cabin crew expires on February 28.

Nicoley Baublies, spokesman for the cabin crew union UFO, said management had failed to make a new offer and refused to hold talks, echoing a complaint made by the Cockpit union.

In Britain, British Airways crew members were balloted for a second time after the High Court ruled in December against planned action over the busy Christmas and New Year period.

A total of 9,271 cabin crew voted with 80.7 per cent in favour of strike action, said their union, Unite.

That allows for a strike within 28 days, but according to media reports the busy two-week Easter holiday period has been ruled out.

BA, which has forecast a record loss in its current financial year, says it wants to review the working conditions of its cabin crew, who are paid more than their counterparts at other airlines.

Unite is protesting at BA’s imposed contractual changes that include fewer cabin crew on flights, a pay freeze and different working conditions for new members of staff.

“Our members are not mindless militants but men and women committed to their company and their profession, so it is right that they want to be consulted on changes to their jobs,” said Unite assistant general secretary Len McCluskey.

BA attacked Unite for its “completely unjustified” threat of industrial action.

“We will not allow Unite to ruin this company,” the airline warned.

“Should a strike take place, we will do everything we can to protect our customers’ travel plans as far as possible.”

The French air traffic controllers’ strike is expected to hit a quarter of flights from Paris’s main Charles de Gaulle airport, said officials from the state aviation authority DGAC.

Orly, south of Paris, which handles mainly domestic traffic, would lose half of its flights, while several regional airports would be forced to close.

But Air France said it would be able to assure all of its international flights Tuesday.

Aviation workers’ unions called for the five-day strike, from Tuesday to Saturday, to protest government plans to merge France’s air traffic control activities with those of neighbouring countries.

French, British strike action clouds Europe's skies

AFP | Tue, Feb 23 2010

Lufthansa manages to head off what had been planned as a four-day strike after only one day, but turbulence looms ahead still.

French, British strike action clouds Europe's skies

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