Air traffic controllers’ strike: why did the recent law on “minimum adapted service” not help avoid the walkout?

Airlines expect 'considerable' flight cancellations. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) must announce at the end of the day Tuesday the number of flights to be canceled, but the French air traffic controllers' strike on Thursday April 25 already promises to be very well attended. A law promulgated at the end of December was to better regulate the right to strike of air traffic controllers, so why such a mess?

“With this law, it was not a question of limiting the right to strike, but of better organizing its consequences,” explains senator (UDI) Vincent Capo-Canellas, at the origin of the text. Previously, unions had to submit their strike notice five days in advance, but strikers were not required to declare themselves individually as is the case, in particular, in the railway sector. From now on, each agent who wishes to strike must report no later than noon the day before the day of the walkout. This allows the DGAC to have a precise idea, almost 48 hours before the social movement, of the number of flights it will be able to operate.

With the old system, the administration had to content itself with estimating the number of strikers based on the representativeness of the unions having submitted notice. A wet-fingered assessment which sometimes led to more flights being canceled than necessary, when the strike mobilized little, giving it a much stronger resonance than in reality. With these new rules, “the effect of the strike is more proportionate to the number of strikers,” defends Vincent Capo-Canellas.

“This makes it possible to avoid unnecessary flight cancellations, and to better predict those that must be canceled despite everything so that passengers can organize themselves,” agrees Anaïs Escudié, founder of the site RetardVol.fr. Companies must in fact take responsibility for rerouting travelers to their destination or reimbursement of their ticket, even when the strike is not their fault.

As for the minimum service, it already exists for air traffic controllers and allows the DGAC to mobilize agents to ensure part of the flights despite the strike. It can be better used with this precise estimate of the strikers: “Sometimes, we triggered it before lifting it very quickly because few controllers actually went on strike,” we slip from the DGAC.

But this minimum service is not in force in all airports. This is for example the case in Montpellier, despite its significant traffic. “The decree which governs this minimum service is quite old” and must be updated with, in particular, a new list of airports concerned and clearer rules, points out Vincent Capo-Canellas. A new decree is in the works but is still being examined by the Council of State, says the senator.