The French air traffic controllers union SNCTA on Friday canceled a strike scheduled for April 29 to May 2 after receiving assurances that a proposal made Monday by the French civil aviation authority DGAC stands as firm. Moreover, the union said it does not want to disrupt travelers’ plans, especially during a popular vacation period. However, it added it will remain “very vigilant” about how the proposal gets implemented.
At the heart of the dispute are negotiations over DGAC proposals to change employment terms and conditions, and in particular to increase the retirement age for controllers from 57 to 59. Evidently, SNCTA's main concern has not simply been the proposals themselves but what they see as the government's refusal to allow special negotiating terms for the controllers, who insist that they should be treated as a special category of transportation employees.
After conducting a highly-disruptive strike on April 8 and 9, the SNCTA now has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of an April 13 meeting with the DGAC, but it says it remains wary of possible setbacks over the course of ongoing negotiations. It remains unclear what concessions DGAC officials have actually agreed in terms of how negotiations will be handled.
The negotiation framework centers on an agreement that encompasses all of the DGAC and must undergo renewal every three years; schedules call for signing of the next memorandum late this year. The SNCTA wants controller-related aspects negotiated at the controller level, as opposed to a wider scheme that used to also involve other categories of personnel.
During the April 13 meeting, the DGAC accepted a new method that will take into account “the peculiarities of our job,” said Olivier Giuge, one of the SNCTA’s national secretaries.
