The main union of French air traffic controllers announced on Wednesday that it had lifted its three-day strike notice at the end of September after reaching an agreement with its supervisory ministry on salaries and recruitment.
“End of conciliation at the ministry: an agreement finally found, the SNCTA lifts its notice”, wrote in a brief message on its website the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers, majority among air traffic controllers.
This end of the movement was confirmed by the services of the Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune, who “welcomes that an agreement has been reached with the SNCTA (…) at the end of the conciliation procedure”, according to a statement sent at AFP.
The SNCTA, mobilized for a wage increase in a context of high inflation, as well as for an acceleration of recruitment in order to anticipate a wave of retirements, had called for a strike from September 28 to 30, after a first day of action which caused major disruption last Friday.
These professionals were particularly alarmed by the planned retirement of a third of air navigation control engineers (ICNA) between 2029 and 2035.
However, “at least five years separate recruitment from qualification” and training capacities are “structurally limited”. It was therefore necessary, according to them, to anticipate this “departure wall” from next year, and to budget for training in this direction.
“Changes to the compensation grids will be implemented in connection with a social protocol to be negotiated for the period 2023-2027, which will include commitments to strengthen the quality of air navigation control service and improve productivity”, said Wednesday. the Ministry.
In addition, “clear perspectives were also given on the recruitment of new promotions of controllers at ENAC”, the National School of Civil Aviation, added the services of Mr. Beaune.
– 2,400 flights canceled last Friday –
It is a question of facing “the resumption of air traffic and the planned retirement of controllers in large numbers in the years to come”, confirmed the ministry.
Mr. Beaune, according to the same source, “welcomes the spirit of responsibility and the sense of dialogue, which have made it possible to avoid a new social movement, which would have seriously penalized the entire sector in this period of resumption of air transport “.
On Friday, faced with the strike, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) had asked airlines operating flights departing from or arriving on French territory to preventively cancel 50% of their program, i.e. a thousand aircraft movements.
In total, the movement resulted in the elimination of “more than 2,400 flights” in Europe out of the approximately 31,000 planned, the air traffic monitoring body Eurocontrol said on Monday.
From the same source, other movements of aircraft suffered significant delays, of the order of 45 minutes for each trip overflying French territory.
The main association of airlines, Iata, considered “welcome that French air traffic controllers have canceled their next strikes”, in a message published on Wednesday on its Twitter account.
According to her, “the superfluous strike on Friday caused delays, cancellations, increases in costs and CO2 emissions”.
The organization also called for “an end to the cycle of airline hostage-taking” and urged the European Union to set up the “single European sky”.
This reform, launched almost twenty years ago but which is struggling to succeed, aims to move from a traffic organization system dependent on national borders to a coherent zone where aircraft trajectories would approach a straight line, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saving time and money.
The ICNAs, who are around 4,000 in France, are among the best paid civil servants, with an average net monthly salary of around 5,000 euros, including bonuses, which can reach 9,000 euros at the end of their career, according to a Senate report.