Geneva International Airport, the second largest in Switzerland, faced a historic strike by company staff on Friday over wages, which led to the cancellation of all flights until mid-morning.
In front of the doors of the main building of the airport, many police and security personnel only let in passengers with a late morning flight, as well as journalists.
While inside the airport, passengers discovered in front of the display panel if their flight was canceled, delayed or maintained, like a couple in their fifties, Christophe and Laetitia , from Savoy, who discovered that their correspondence was cancelled.
The trade unionists – around fifty – planted their red flags in front of the main door, to explain their demands, surrounded by gates and a security cordon. “I am not an economic adjustment variable”, could one read on a banner.
A union delegation meets management again on Friday morning.
More than sixty flights have been canceled, the airport management having decided to temporarily halt operations between 04:00 and 08:00 GMT.
The airline Swiss had warned that all Friday morning flights departing from Geneva would be affected and Easyjet is also impacted, Geneva being an important hub for the low cost company.
“We are in uncertainty”, explained to AFP Luca Toberer, passenger of Easyjet, whose flight for Crete must leave at 11:15 am, quite unhappy. “In Switzerland, we have a rather negative view of strikes in general”.
“In Switzerland, going on strike is very rare. We have the right to strike when we have exhausted all the remedies and procedures for consultation,” Claire Pellegrin, 43, president of the staff commission of the company, told AFP. ‘airport.
“It’s the ultimate solution that we didn’t think we’d get,” she said, explaining that it was the first strike she had taken part in.
The strike, which affects several critical services, has its origins in the overhaul of the salary policy desired by management.
According to a tweet from Genève Aéroport “the seven long-haul flights (are) expected between 10:15 am and 11:15 am.”
These include several flights from North America (New York, Montreal or Newark) but also Abu Dhabi and Doha, according to the airport’s website.
Diane Altanov, a schoolteacher, and Gabriella Faillace, a bank clerk, discovered on arriving at the airport that their flight to Doha had been delayed, while they must then take a connection for Cambodia. “We are annoyed but we understand the strike” given the inflation, the young teacher told AFP.
According to a count on Thursday, around 8,000 passengers were affected on departure from Geneva by the four-hour strike.
The social conflict had been brewing for several days and, as a sign of discontent, the movement is renewable.
This strike is historic: it is the first involving airport staff employed under a public law contract (and not external collaborators, who are also vital to its operation), in the 104-year history of the airport. Cointrin, underlines the daily Le Temps.
“The airport is a company which is profitable, which benefits from a monopoly and which attacks the conditions of the staff”, declared Pierre-Yves Maillard, the president of the Swiss Trade Union Union (USS), who came to support the strikers.
“You have staff who feel disrespected to such a degree that even here in Geneva, Switzerland, they end up walking out,” he said.
Over the period from January to May, the airport handled nearly 6.8 million passengers, according to official statistics.
30/06/2023 09:36:28 – Geneva (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
