While I understand the purpose of unions, I've never understood how repeated strikes end up happening so often. I'm not just blaming unionized employees, but also management -- at some point there has to be some compromise which is less punitive than the cost of endless strikes. For example, for a while Lufthansa pilots were…
Continue reading: French ATC Going On Strike For Umpteenth Time…
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And then they will run to America for handouts. No not the union, the whole nation.
I still choose Air France or Lufthansa over any US carrier when I travel to Europe . Agreed; they strike plenty but they still have a far better product . And I do not know about "they will run to America" for handouts. AA,United and Delta get plenty of "handouts" from the US government and agencies, make lots of profits and WE the customers get a sub-standard product.
I forgot how dark the days were when Reagan was president.
What an awful people he and his wife and their entire cabal were.
It is worth noting that when Regan fired the controllers, their strike was illegal under Federal law. The EU however grants broad rights to virtually all union employees to strike at will. Only a legal change will end these selfish and disruptive actions.
This was not a copy and paste at all. It's regarding the same topic so there will obviously be overlap. To be frank, TPG articles are normally posted well after plenty of other bloggers have already commented on whatever issue is being discussed.
Thanks for this article.
I would like to say that it's not just ATC strike, it's nation strike(to be honest, transports workers and unions members) against a futur work law.
I'm french, and I know it's not the first ATC strike but we deal with it 😉
I'm sorry but this is in no way copy-paste. Your article is about things to do with specific airlines while this article is about the strike in general so how could it be copy-paste?
@JT - How is this copy-paste? Please state the lines which are the same in your post and this post.
What's stopping those guys from getting fired and hiring people who won't hold ATC for ransom?
The French strike all the time. Every time I have been in Paris some union or other was on strike. So this seems par for the course.
Last ATC strike was only 2 weeks ago, had my NCE to PAR to BES 2x1hr flight arrive 9 hrs late !! even flight from CDG that wasn't supposed to be affected was actually delayed by 5 hrs.
Air France staff showed some goodwill, but were very disorganized by the strike.
France is a socialist country and firing ATC is not an option ah ah.
The right to go on strike in France is as sacred as cows are in India..
Good luck to all who are travelling tomorrow 😉
I'd say follow the proposal of The Economist from some years ago ( http://www.economist.com/node/16003661), just reorganise the map of Europe, but move France to somewhere no one needs to fly over. Then they can strike til their cows come home to make French cheese!
It is annoying. It is a minority holding the majority hostage in the name of a particular view of social justice. A couple of observations may explain this French way of doing things.
It is cultural. Just read Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities".
Some times (and I will admit very rarely) these strikes in the defence of "public service" do have the "public safety" in mind. A few years ago, the ATCs at Orly did strike for better equipment.
The US has its own cultural traits. Consider the one that I read on this site: "I want to be able to take my kids out of school and travel during the off-season." Consider the "Right to Work" fight that just got undecided by the Supreme Court. Consider the 1000-page procedure to fire a substandard teacher in the Los Angeles School District. American through and through.
There is indeed a difference between the US and France. In the US, business exist primarily for economic reasons. In France, they exist primarily for social ones. So, while in the US there is an ongoing argument about Obama Care, in France there is an unbelievable frustration by the majority of the French people that a vocal minority can legally cause so much disruption. The former is the social interfering with the economy. The latter is the economy interfering with the social.
Yes, France has its problems but it does not mean that all or even a substantial minority of French men and women support the strike. What one usual hears in the street when a strike happens, "Ah! Ces bandes de cons!" How perspicacious!