French airport worker unions call for strike days before Paris Olympics

Four unions representing workers at airports in Paris have called for a strike the week before the Summer Olympics in a dispute over bonuses for staff.

The CGT, CFDT, FO and UNSA unions announced they would file a strike motion for July 17 – nine days before the first day of the Games.

The unions have demanded that staff receive an Olympic bonus at Aéroports de Paris (ADP), the state-owned firm which operates both Charles de Gaulle /Roissy and Orly airports.

In a statement on Monday, they denounced “unilateral decisions from the chief executive to pay a bonus to only some personnel”.

The scale of the potential disruption to travel was not immediately clear.

Both airports will serve as the main gateway for tourists to enter France for the Games, which begin on July 26.

Up to 350,000 people are expected to transit through both airports during the Olympics, according to Le Monde .

Thousands of athletes will begin arriving in the Olympic Village from July 18.

Unions representing workers across the public sector in France have demanded increased pay for having to work through the Games, which last until August 11.

Pay demands have been made by police, air traffic controllers, rubbish collectors, central government employees and train drivers.

It comes a day after the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) unexpectedly secured the highest number of seats in a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron .

The result was a major setback for for Marine Le Pen 's far right National Rally (RN), which opinion polls had predicted would win the second-round ballot but ended up in the third spot.

The NFP has called for a hike to the minimum wage as well as salary increases for public sector workers.

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