Air traffic controllers: New union files strike notice for July 3, just before summer vacation

This is likely to disrupt the vacation departures of some vacationers. A French air traffic controllers' union announced a strike notice for July 3rd, this Thursday, June 26th, partially coinciding with a call made by another organization. The USAC-CGT, the union representing air traffic controllers with 16% of the vote in the last professional elections, denounces, like the UNSA-ICNA, insufficient staffing levels, as well as a "seriously deteriorating social context" at the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC).

In a press release, the USAC-CGT is demanding, among other things, "an increase in the DGAC employment ceiling, which currently does not allow retirements to be anticipated," "the opening of negotiations on the territorial network of DGAC services, which has been imposed by force," as well as "a complete overhaul of the rules governing the operation of social dialogue."

On Wednesday evening, UNSA-ICNA, the second-largest air traffic controllers' union with 17% of the vote, announced that it had maintained its call for a strike on July 3 and 4, following a "conciliation meeting" with the DGAC, which proved unsuccessful. "The DGAC has not responded to the warnings UNSA-ICNA has been issuing for weeks (structural understaffing, failed technical projects, toxic management)," the union told AFP.

Contacted by AFP on Thursday morning, the DGAC declined to comment immediately. On Wednesday, it said it recognized "the difficulties linked to the chronic understaffing situation, which affect the quality of service provided to airlines. It is precisely to address this that it is defending an ambitious recruitment plan." For the DGAC, the union's demands relate to "monitoring the attendance of controllers, remuneration, and recruitment."

A reform is underway to establish a time clock for controllers upon taking up their posts, following a "serious incident" at Bordeaux airport in late 2022, when two planes nearly collided. The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) had blamed the incident on a deficient organization of controllers' work, outside the legal framework and without respect for the duty roster.

Air traffic control engineers (ICNA) are among the highest paid civil servants, with an average gross salary "in the order of 96,000 euros per year, or approximately 8,000 euros per month" , according to a Senate report from October 2024. The main controllers' union, the SNCTA (60% of the vote), told AFP that it was not calling for a strike.