French ATC strike May 22

Back to Forum
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 42 total)

  • AMcWhirter
    Participant

    pheighdough
    Participant

    French National Strike call for Tuesday 22nd of May,the period starts from Monday 21st at 1700 UTC till Wednesday 23rd at 0400 UTC
    The traffic reduction program will be in place from 22/05/18 from 0400 UTC until 22/05/18 2200 UTC

    I’ve also heard of some french disruption on 26/27 May in the SE of France (Marseille/Nice). It’s Monaco GP weekend…


    capetonianm
    Participant

    It’s not news, is it? It would only be news when there was no disruption and inconvenience caused to the public by these militant and selfish what FDOS said!

    I note that the defenders of the French are keeping very quiet on this and similar threads, but they happily laid into me on the AF/KL thread. Wonder why?

    ‘Bof, c’est comme ca’, as they would say, as they shrug their shoulders so that they are above the top of their heads.


    Edski777
    Participant

    Here we (don’t) go again…….

    I only wonder why they do this to themselves. Less and less passengers fly to and fro or, especially, via France. CDG dropped in the ranking of most passengers from place 2 to place 4. Losing them is easy, winning them back takes an enormous effort. Almost every airline in western Europe handled more passengers, AF handled less.

    And look at the prediction Michael O’Leary did this morning: “airlines that didn’t make a profit while oil prices were low are not likely to survive this coming winter when oil prices remain at the current level”.

    The french interpretation of job security “I got my salary increase, but lost my job. I won?”


    Kimi_CDG
    Participant

    Actually, FDOS_UK, I didn’t mind at first as I thought it was for the ATC workers on strike.
    I’m disappointed you felt the need to join the French bashing party.

    As a Frenchman, am I therefore to be considered lazy, arrogant and prone to go on strike if any of my privilege is threatened?
    It’s weird because, when I was working in Paris, quite a few people (including me) used to leave the office after our US colleagues, i.e. 10pm Paris time and we still got the same bunch of criticisms and clichés.

    C’est comme ça
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Kimi_CDG

    I’m not bashing the French per se, I’m bashing the selfish unions who repeatedly cause untold trouble for innocent passengers, many of whom are not even flying to France.

    The French government should have stopped this nonsense a long time ago – if your SNCF union wants to retire at 55 and strikes over it, fair enough – the main disruption is inside France and is an internal issue. But ATC affects flights transiting the airspace and that is another matter – how would you like it if British ATC went on strike and stopped access to the USA or created loing diversions around it? I’d be outraged.

    Trust me, if it was a UK union causing this amount of trouble, I’d bash them as well – the action of the railway unions in disrupting some UK services (e.g. northern) is also very poor – BUT it does not cause SNCF trains to be cancelled or diverted, does it?

    PS: I will be working with my French colleagues in Issy next week and we will continue the happy business relationship started in 2008.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    As a matter of interest, I’ve always found the French outside France to be hard-working, ambitious, service-orientated, and competent. There are huge numbers of them in the UK and elsewehere working very successfully in finance, banking, service industries, and hospitality. The fact that they’ve chosen to leave France to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and education is a sad reflection on France, with its punitive taxation of the wealthy and its destructive socialism, and bears out what I’ve previously said.


    Kimi_CDG
    Participant

    Obviously, I am shocked when I see this situation. 30% of AF workers (mostly overpaid pilots) threaten the future of the company and damage a country’s reputation.

    Worse for ATC workers who use the central position of French airspace to block air traffic.
    Trust me, I want as much as you these privileges to be scrapped as well. So does the majority of the French people. Therefore the election of Macron.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Macron faces a huge challenge, in some ways similar to Thatcher in the late 1970s, where a major change was required and her legacy (depending on your perspective) is either that of a wicked witch or a major reformer.

    The country was still split over this as later as her death in 2013 and some people think that the strong Brexit vote in the North East of England may have included some resentment against the Conservative party, reflecting (in part) her leadership decisions.

    That’s sailing close enough to politics for me 😉


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    Oh, grow up. This is a forum for business travellers, who tend to be quite robust in their opinions.[/quote]

    Unfortunately this forum is once again degenerating into a hooligan type of vilification. The usual offenders. A similar situation existed some years ago with VintageKrug. Unfortunately today’s moderators seem happy to ignore what is happening on this forum on an almost daily basis.

    The OED defines Moderate as temperate in conduct or expression.

    It is time that the moderators learned this and allowed the forum to be used by Business Travellers who are interested only in advice, assistance and appropriate comments regarding business travel.

    Enough is enough.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    For those who think this is pure ‘French bashing’ let me ask a question.

    What European country regularly and frequently has strikes and industrial action which not only paralyse domestic transport but also impinge negatively on international traffic crossing its territory and air space?

    I can only think of one, but someone else may have a better answer, in which case I accept that I am wrong.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Faro Flyer

    It’s a shame that you were selective in your quoting and did not include the comment that triggered my reaction

    [quote quote=867420]Probably no less spineless than hiding behind an anonymous forum using words which are probably not used face to face, let alone to family.[/quote]

    I’d say that was a good attempt to vilify, wouldn’t you?

    Also, I notice you have cross posted on different threads, that’s normally considered rude under netiquette.


    Kimi_CDG
    Participant

    [quote quote=867424]For those who think this is pure ‘French bashing’ let me ask a question.

    What European country regularly and frequently has strikes and industrial action which not only paralyse domestic transport but also impinge negatively on international traffic crossing its territory and air space[/quote]

    And we all agree here that a minority of workers in a handful of companies shouldn’t do this.
    It becomes “French bashing” when you use your bad experiences with French people at work to generalise and say things like that

    [quote quote=867391]Only the French can do that, it must be because they have no spines.[/quote]

    I have actually felt the same at times when dealing with people in Paris (I make the distinction with people from the rest of the country).

    Quite ironic that, being French of Algerian descent, I have been accused not to be “French enough” and I end up here defending my country 😅.

    As you said, “c’est comme ça” 🤷

    Note: I apologise in advance for my spelling mistakes… Hmmm, I’m French 😀


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    I don’t know why this quote came up as attributed to Faro Flyer, who did not write this.

    Probably no less spineless than hiding behind an anonymous forum using words which are probably not used face to face, let alone to family.

    For the avoidance of doubt, Henryp1 wrote the words.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Interesting comment about Parisians. I find them helpful, direct and straightforward, and quite enjoy our infrequent trips to and through Paris. Other than that, the rule seems to be that the further you get from Paris, the more pleasant people are, the exception being the Cote D’Azur where the people in the ‘service’ industries have elevated being unpleasant, arrogant, unhelpful, and dishonest to a fine art, other than when they are trying to get their hands into your wallet or your underwear.

    Having worked in a company that employed a lot of French people, I know what I’m talking about.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 42 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls