PARIS – For 18 years, Marie Marivel has worked as a security guard at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, controlling crowds of passengers and thousands of bags every day. It has always been a heavy job, he says, but conditions have made it totally impossible lately, as staff shortages nearly double their workload and a cost-of-living crisis robs them of their modest pay.
As security guards, ground crews, baggage handlers and other Paris airport workers begin a series of strikes on Friday to demand better wages and more hiring, Ms Marivel, 56, is anxious to join the fight.
The end of pandemic restrictions across Europe led to a major resurgence of air travel, Ms Marivel said. “But we are blatantly insufficient. And we can no longer reach the end of the month,” he said. “Workers are asking for more.”
Europe is preparing for a summer of labor unrest, as rising inflation and labor shortages incite protests across the economy, in sectors as varied as the steel industry and garbage collection . The conflict is most visible in transport, where the exaggerated workforces of airlines, airports and railways have begun to trigger crippling abandonments. The rail strike in Britain last week was the largest in the country in 30 years.
Several outings are planned for this weekend and beyond. Security workers at Hamburg Airport in Germany are expected to go on a one-day strike on Friday to demand better wages. Pilots of the Scandinavian airline SAS threaten to strike on Saturday as unions negotiate a higher wage with the company. British Airways check-in staff will leave work by the end of this month, agitating over better conditions at Heathrow Airport.
On Friday afternoon, French news said the country’s civil aviation authority had announced that one in five flights to Charles de Gaulle Airport would be canceled on Saturday due to the ongoing strike.
The start of the summer travel season in Europe had already been marked by chaos at airports, train stations and major tourist destinations, as operators in the sector struggled to meet the resurgence of demand. Thousands of flights have been canceled and thousands more were cut until August by airlines such as Lufthansa and easyJet as companies struggle to find staff or face layoffs.
In Germany, the crackdown on aviation recruitment has become so severe that the government will speed up thousands of foreign workers, mostly from Turkey, in the coming weeks to alleviate staff shortages in security, billing and handling. planes.
Waiting hours of four hours or more at security lines at major airports such as Heathrow in London and Schiphol in Amsterdam, where travelers were advised to “wear comfortable shoes” due to the incredibly long delays at check-in, they have domestic, but temporarily.
They are likely to erupt again when unions in countries like Spain and Sweden plan a new wave of industrial protests.
At European airports, baggage handlers, ground staff and other workers are hired by companies outsourced by airlines and airports to provide low-cost services, a legacy of a European Union policy that seeks to liberalize competition in the sector. . At Charles de Gaulle Airport, where Mrs. Marivel, a union said more than 800 contracted companies offered staff for a wide range of services, such as billing and bathroom cleaning.
Hundreds of thousands of these jobs have been cut in the last two years as air travel was left on the ground due to the pandemic. Now, as the demand for flight has suddenly increased, the travel sector is finding more than 100,000 job vacancies due to layoffs and layoffs during pandemic blockades.
“Working conditions have deteriorated so much that the sector is unattractive,” said Eoin Coates, head of aviation at the European Federation of Transport Workers. Wages are low, he said, and many of the jobs divide the workday into unattractive shifts that start before dawn or last until midnight or later.
“Meanwhile, across the economy, revenue and purchasing power have been reduced,” he added. “People are at the end of their patience.”
Inflation in the euro area reached 8.6% in June, the highest in decades. Hourly wages have begun to recover modestly after falling during the pandemic, but labor organizations say the recovery is not enough to catch up with the cost of living.
Updated
July 1, 2022, 05:40 ET
For the mammoth tourism sector in Europe, the threat of a strike could not be more critical. The airline industry has opted for a strong summer to offset high fuel costs, and tourist destinations need a boost in travel to help revive national economies.
In at least one case, labor pressure is bearing fruit. At Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, where the shortage of ground staff caused almost unrest on the part of some passengers who could not make their planes after security hours, management and unions reached an agreement. to increase pay and improve working conditions throughout the airport. The deal aims to curb what unions said was a downward race among airport contractors competing to work through low wages and precarious contracts.
The airport expects the changes to attract new recruits. Higher costs are likely to be borne by airlines and ultimately passed on to passengers through ticket prices, but the alternative is more delays and cancellations that could be considerably more expensive.
“Workers are not only in a good position, but they have good reasons to negotiate and demand higher wages in this context,” said Laura Nurski, labor economist at Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels. “Airlines are trying to offer low fares,” he said. “But when you want cheap, the cost comes from the wages or conditions of the people who work there.”
Ms. Marivel, a Paris airport worker, is one of the people who says these conditions are no longer sustainable. His monthly pay is about 1,500 euros (about $ 1,560), he said, and his monthly rent is 900 euros. Rising energy, gasoline and food prices are now consuming your salary before the next payday arrives.
“Most of us are in the same position,” said Ms Marivel, who works for ICTS France, a company hired by the Paris airport authority to supply workers to inspect luggage and ensure safety.
“Our salaries have not been maintained, and everyone is tightening their belts,” added Marivel, who is also a member of the Confédération Générale du Travail, one of the French unions pushing for higher wages.
At the same time, companies like the one for which Ms. Marivel have struggled to replace people who resigned or were let go during pandemic confinements, putting pressure on remaining employees. Some jobs require weekend work or different day and night shifts.
Aéroports de Paris, which manages Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, said in a statement that it still needed to find at least 4,000 workers. ICTS did not respond to a request for comment.
“A lot of people left because they realized that there is life beyond working crazy hours for a low salary,” Ms. Marivel. “Salaries just aren’t good enough for the conditions.”
During a recent campaign to hire 400 people from an unemployment center near the airport, only 20 people found work, he added. “Some come to work, they stay for half a day. They take a break for lunch, and then we don’t see them again, ”said Mrs. Marivel, whose union is demanding an increase of 300 euros a month.
It remains to be seen if the momentum will last. For now, leverage is on the workers ’side, but the same conditions that led to higher wage demands are likely to cool, said Daniel Kral, a senior economist at Oxford Economics.
“We have a big cyclical upswing and reopening winds that are creating labor shortages,” he said. “But we are also entering a difficult period: there are great fears of recession, central banks are tightening policy. Therefore, this will have a cooling effect on the labor market later.”
Although many people are engaged after two years without a holiday, the record rise in inflation could quickly curb travel demand and spending.
“With very high inflation, people are worried about the future, so this will have a big effect on consumers,” Kral said. “People are spending like crazy now, but it will get sober.”
Adèle Cordonnier contributed to the report.