Paris — For 18 years, Marie Maribel worked as a security guard at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, screening many passengers and thousands of bags every day. It has always been a burdensome task, she says, but conditions have recently made it totally altogether, as a shortage of staff almost doubles her workload and the cost of living crisis plunders her modest salary. I made it impossible.
56-year-old Maribel joins the fight as Paris security guards, ground personnel, baggage handlers and other airport workers launch a series of strikes on Friday demanding better wages and more employment. I am eager for that.
Maribel said the end of pandemic regulation across Europe had an impact on the great resurgence of air travel. “But we are terribly understaffed, and we can no longer achieve our goals,” she said. “Workers are demanding more.”
Europe is preparing for a summer of labor instability as inflation and labor shortages are causing protests across the economy in various areas such as the steel industry and garbage collection. The conflict is most prominent in transportation, and the overwork of airlines, airports and railroads is beginning to unleash catastrophic strikes. Last week’s railroad strike in the UK was the largest in the country in 30 years.
Several strikes are planned from this weekend onwards. Security guards at Hamburg Airport in Germany are expected to strike all day on Friday and demand better wages. Scandinavian Airlines SAS pilots are threatening to strike on Saturday as the union is negotiating with the company for higher wages. British Airways check-in staff will quit their jobs later this month and will be upset to improve the condition at Heathrow Airport.
Late Friday, a French news report said civil aviation officials in the country announced that one in five flights at Charles de Gaulle Airport would be canceled on Saturday due to ongoing strikes.
The beginning of Europe’s summer travel season was already undermined by the turmoil in airports, train stations and major tourist destinations as industry operators struggled to keep up with the resurgence of demand. For airlines such as Lufthansa and easyJet, thousands of flights have been canceled and thousands more have been cut until August as companies look for staff and face work-off home runs.
In Germany, the pressure on aviation employment has become so disastrous that the government will in the coming weeks, thousands of people, primarily from Turkey, to address staff shortages in security, check-in and aircraft handling. Hurry up to track down foreign workers.
Advising travelers to “wear comfortable shoes” as waiting at security lines at major airports such as Heathrow Airport in London and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam will result in surprisingly long delays at check-in. It had been, but was temporarily tamed.
Trade unions in countries, including Spain and Sweden, are planning a new wave of industrial protests, and they are likely to reignite.
At European airports, baggage handlers, ground personnel and other workers are hired by airlines and companies outsourced from the airport to provide low-cost services. This is a legacy of European Union policy aimed at liberalizing competition in this sector. At Charles de Gaulle Airport, where Maribel works, one union said more than 800 contractors provide staff for a wide range of services, including check-in and bathroom cleaning.
Hundreds of thousands of these jobs have been reduced in the last two years as air travel has stopped due to a pandemic. Due to the surge in demand for planes, the travel industry has more than 100,000 vacancies due to layoffs and worker resignations during the pandemic blockade.
“This sector is unattractive because working conditions have deteriorated so much,” said Eoin Coates, head of the aviation sector of the European Federation of Transport Workers. Wages are low and much of the work slices work days into unattractive shifts that begin before dawn and last until after midnight.
“During that time, income and purchasing power have declined across the economy,” he added. “People are at the end of their patience.”
Eurozone inflation Reached 8.6 percent in June — The best in decades. Hourly wages began to recover moderately after falling during the pandemic, but labor unions have stated that recovery is less than sufficient to keep up with living expenses.
The threat of strikes is no more serious for Europe’s huge tourism sector. The aviation industry uses banks in the strong summer to offset high fuel costs, and tourist destinations need travel rebounds to revive the national economy.
In at least one case, labor pressure is rewarding. At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, where a shortage of ground personnel led to a riot by some travelers who were unable to build a plane on the security line hours later, management and unions worked to raise salaries and improve working conditions throughout the airport. Has reached an agreement. The agreement aims to curb what the union said was a race to the bottom among airport contractors competing for work through low wages and volatile contracts.
The airport wants the change to attract new hires. The higher costs are likely to be borne by the airline and are ultimately passed on to the traveler at the ticket price, but instead there are additional delays and cancellations that can be quite expensive.
Laura Nursky, a labor economist at Bruegel, a Brussels think tank, said: “Airlines are trying to offer low fares,” she said. “But when you fly cheap, the cost comes from the wages or conditions of the people who work there.”
Maribel, an airport worker in Paris, is one of those who say that such a situation is no longer sustainable. Her monthly takeaway payment is around € 1,500 (about $ 1,560) and her monthly rent is € 900. Soaring prices for energy, petrol and food have run out of her salary before the next payday.
“Most of us are in the same position,” said Marivell, who works at ICTS France, which has a contract with the Paris Airport Authority to provide workers to inspect and provide security for luggage.
“Our salary isn’t catching up and everyone is tightening their belts,” said Maribel, a member of the General Confederation of Labor, one of the French trade unions seeking higher wages. Added.
At the same time, companies like Maribel are struggling to replace those who quit or were abandoned during the pandemic blockade, putting a strain on the rest of the employees. Some jobs require weekend work, or work in different shifts throughout the day and night.
Aeroport de Paris, which operates Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, said in a statement that it needed to find at least 4,000 workers. ICTS did not respond to the request for comment.
“Many people have left because they realized that they had a life that went beyond low-paying, crazy hourly work,” Maribel said. “The salary is not enough for the conditions.”
She added that only 20 people got jobs during a recent campaign to hire 400 people from an unemployment center near the airport. “Some of them come to work and stay for half a day. They take a meal break, but never see them again,” Maribel says the union is demanding an increase of € 300 per month. Said.
It is not yet known if the momentum will continue. Daniel Kral, senior economist at Oxford Economics, said leverage is on the workers’ side for now, but the very situation that led to higher wage demand is likely to cool.
“We are resuming a large periodic rebound and tailwind, causing a labor shortage,” he said. “But we are also in a difficult time. There is a big recession threat and the central bank is tightening its policies. Therefore, this will have a cooling effect on the labor market further ahead.”
While many people are skyrocketing after two years without vacation, a record surge in inflation can rapidly weaken the surge in travel demand and spending.
“People are worried about the future because of high inflation, which will have a big impact on consumers,” Kral said. “People are now crazy, but they will be calm.”
Adele Cordonier Report that contributed.
