This story was updated on September 13.
The main French union of air traffic controllers has agreed to postpone its strike until the Rugby World Cup, the Olympics and the Paralympic Games, hosted in Paris, end in September 2024.
The ‘Olympics Truce’, agreed upon by the SNCTA union, was announced yesterday, September 12, by the French Transport Minister, Clement Beaune, following a conciliation meeting with the union on Friday, September 8.
According to one of the National Secretaries of the SNCTA, the agreement entails an increase in compensation, a commitment to the Olympic Truce until September 2024 and the promise of a new salary discussion at this deadline, reports lemonde.fr.
The lifting of the September 15 strike would allow the ongoing Rugby World Cup to proceed without disruption, said Beaune. The previously scheduled air traffic control strikes would have caused chaos for the spectators who are travelling to attend the games.
French workers’ planned air traffic control and public transport strikes that could have impacted thousands of people travelling to the Rugby World Cup.
According to euronews.com, rugby fans may have faced chaos in the upcoming week as the National Union of Railwaymen and Allied Workers (SNCTA), which represents air traffic controllers in France, called on workers to conduct a nationwide walkout on September 15 and October 13. The workers were demanding pay that accommodates rising inflation rates.
Between September 8 and October 28, thousands of people are scheduled to travel for the Rugby World Cup taking place at stadiums across France. The venues include Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne, Stade de Bordeaux, Stade de Marseille, Stadium de Toulouse, Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, Stade de Nice, Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes, OL Stadium in Lyon, and Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris – where the final will take place.
More than two and a half million tickets to the World Cup have been sold, with a record 600 000 spectators expected to travel into France to attend.
The strikes could have led to flight cancellations and delays across French airspace that would have affected thousands of people. Furthermore, they may have affected neighbouring countries’ flights over the airspace as previous strikes caused delays for flights from Spain, the UK, Germany and Italy.
The postponed strike on September 15 coincided with the New Zealand vs Namibia game at Stadium de Toulouse, followed by Samoa vs Chile at Stade de Bordeaux and Wales vs Portugal at Stade de Nice. Fans who were travelling in advance to see the Ireland vs Tonga at Stade de la Beaujoire on September 16 may have also been affected.
Public transport was also going to be affected during the strikes as the Workers' union, Force-Paris Transport Authority (FO-RATP), threated to have members, such as station staff, walk out during the games.
The postponed strike among Paris Metro employees arose because these workers were not offered additional pay for working during the Rugby World Cup, unlike train drivers.
