As pilots, cabin crew and ground staff pursued a fifth day of strikes aimed at securing higher pay, Air France said on Saturday that hundreds of its flights have been cancelled.

A quarter of long-haul flights have been cancelled, impacting international and domestic travel.

Around a third of medium-haul flights to and from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport have not taken off.

Thirty percent of short-haul flights have been cancelled to and from Paris's Orly airport and French regions.

Saturday saw the highest cancellation rate since unions called for the daylong work stoppages in February in pursuit of a six per cent pay raise.

The management estimated that 34 per cent of pilots walked out, as did 26 per cent of the crew and 19 per cent of the ground staff.

Unions say workers deserve to benefit from years of belt-tightening that have brought the carrier back to operating profitability, after seeing their wages effectively frozen since 2011.

Workers have rejected Air France management's offer of a one per cent&nbsphike this year.

Unions have already warned of more strikes to come, with six more days of walkouts planned including two next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The airline has warned that the strikes are costing Air France 25 million euros ($30 million) each day, money the airline should be investing in buying planes and creating jobs.

The Air France industrial action coincides with rolling strikes by workers at the state rail operator SNCF, as well as protests by students, public servants, energy workers and rubbish collectors.

Although the various protests have different aims, they have created a general atmosphere of social discontent as President Emmanuel Macron pursues his ambitious reform drive.

(With inputs from AFP) 
&nbsp

As pilots, cabin crew and ground staff pursued a fifth day of strikes aimed at securing higher pay, Air France said on Saturday that hundreds of its flights have been cancelled

As pilots, cabin crew and ground staff pursued a fifth day of strikes aimed at securing higher pay, Air France said on Saturday that hundreds of its flights have been cancelled. A quarter of long-haul flights have been cancelled, impacting international and domestic travel. Around a third of medium-haul flights to and from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport have not taken off. Thirty percent of short-haul flights have been cancelled to and from Paris's Orly airport and French regions. Saturday saw the highest cancellation rate since unions called for the daylong work stoppages in February in pursuit of a six per cent pay raise. The management estimated that 34 per cent of pilots walked out, as did 26 per cent of the crew and 19 per cent of the ground staff. Unions say workers deserve to benefit from years of belt-tightening that have brought the carrier back to operating profitability, after seeing their wages effectively frozen since 2011. Workers have rejected Air France management's offer of a one per cent&nbsphike this year. Unions have already warned of more strikes to come, with six more days of walkouts planned including two next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The airline has warned that the strikes are costing Air France 25 million euros ($30 million) each day, money the airline should be investing in buying planes and creating jobs. The Air France industrial action coincides with rolling strikes by workers at the state rail operator SNCF, as well as protests by students, public servants, energy workers and rubbish collectors. Although the various protests have different aims, they have created a general atmosphere of social discontent as President Emmanuel Macron pursues his ambitious reform drive. (With inputs from AFP)

Air France cancels 30% of flights due to strikes

President Francois Hollande said on Sunday it would be incomprehensible if transport strikes were to disrupt the Euro 2016 soccer tournament that opens in France on Friday, raising pressure on the militant &nbsp;Conf?d?ration g?n?rale du travail (CGT) union to call off the action. 
 
Hollande spoke in a radio interview as an opinion poll showed a majority of French people now opposed the wave of nationwide protests against planned labour law reforms that has disrupted fuel supplies and transport services in recent weeks. 
 
Finance minister Michel Sapin said the stoppages and street demonstrations, which have hit rail services, power stations, oil refineries, ports, and waste treatment plans, were having no significant impact on the economy. 
 
But they have tarnished France&#39;s image with scenes of barricades and picket-line violence just as the eyes of Europe are on the host country of the Euro 2016. 
 
&quot;No one would understand it if trains and planes - I&#39;m thinking of the Air France pilots&#39; dispute - were to prevent fans travelling around easily, even if the competition itself has nothing to fear,&quot; Hollande said on France Inter radio. 
 
Rail services have been roughly halved since the CGT and its allies began an open-ended strike last Wednesday. A new round of talks on a reorganisation on working time are due to be held at the Soci?t? nationale des chemins de fer fran?ais (SNCF) state railway today. 
 
Air France pilots have announced plans to strike from Saturday, the second day of the Euros, in a separate dispute over pay cuts. 
 
The Socialist president acknowledged a heightened threat of terrorism during the soccer tournament but said France was taking all possible measures to keep fans safe. Some 130 people were killed in gun and bomb attacks by Islamic State militants in Paris last November. 
 
Hollande said he had decided to maintain the planned fan zones where tens of thousands of spectators without match tickets can gather to watch games on giant screens. The biggest planned zone is next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. 
 
Some security officials and commentators have warned the enclosures and queues of fans waiting to enter them could be targets for potential attackers, stretching the resources of police and security firms in charge of protection. 
 
But Hollande said: &quot;I decided not only that the competition must go ahead, (but also) to keep the fan zones and make this into a European festival, a festival of the people, a sporting festival. We have done everything to make it a success.&quot; 
 
A Brul? Ville et Associ?s (BVA) poll showed that many voters were still against the reforms that unions say will strip workers of their rights. A similar poll a month ago showed that a slim majority backed the protests. 
 
&quot;Days before the start of the Euro football tournament, while no solution to the social crisis is in sight, support for the protest movement against the labour reform is dwindling,&quot; Agnes Balle of BVA ( French polling agency) said. 
 
The survey carried out on Thursday and Friday showed that 54 per cent of French people interviewed were against the protests. The same number backed the protests in May. Only 45 per cent currently support the protest movement, BVA said. 
 
The poll showed 29 per cent wanted the government to maintain the bill, which aims to make hiring and firing easier, in an attempt to get stubbornly high unemployment falling, with presidential elections a year away. The same percentage want the bill withdrawn, while 41 per cent want a negotiated solution.

French President Francois Hollande is concerned that rail and air strikes might prevent fans of Euro 2016 travelling around easily

President Francois Hollande said on Sunday it would be incomprehensible if transport strikes were to disrupt the Euro 2016 soccer tournament that opens in France on Friday, raising pressure on the militant Conf?d?ration g?n?rale du travail (CGT) union to call off the action. Hollande spoke in a radio interview as an opinion poll showed a majority of French people now opposed the wave of nationwide protests against planned labour law reforms that has disrupted fuel supplies and transport services in recent weeks. Finance minister Michel Sapin said the stoppages and street demonstrations, which have hit rail services, power stations, oil refineries, ports, and waste treatment plans, were having no significant impact on the economy. But they have tarnished France's image with scenes of barricades and picket-line violence just as the eyes of Europe are on the host country of the Euro 2016. "No one would understand it if trains and planes - I'm thinking of the Air France pilots' dispute - were to prevent fans travelling around easily, even if the competition itself has nothing to fear," Hollande said on France Inter radio. Rail services have been roughly halved since the CGT and its allies began an open-ended strike last Wednesday. A new round of talks on a reorganisation on working time are due to be held at the Soci?t? nationale des chemins de fer fran?ais (SNCF) state railway today. Air France pilots have announced plans to strike from Saturday, the second day of the Euros, in a separate dispute over pay cuts. The Socialist president acknowledged a heightened threat of terrorism during the soccer tournament but said France was taking all possible measures to keep fans safe. Some 130 people were killed in gun and bomb attacks by Islamic State militants in Paris last November. Hollande said he had decided to maintain the planned fan zones where tens of thousands of spectators without match tickets can gather to watch games on giant screens. The biggest planned zone is next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Some security officials and commentators have warned the enclosures and queues of fans waiting to enter them could be targets for potential attackers, stretching the resources of police and security firms in charge of protection. But Hollande said: "I decided not only that the competition must go ahead, (but also) to keep the fan zones and make this into a European festival, a festival of the people, a sporting festival. We have done everything to make it a success." A Brul? Ville et Associ?s (BVA) poll showed that many voters were still against the reforms that unions say will strip workers of their rights. A similar poll a month ago showed that a slim majority backed the protests. "Days before the start of the Euro football tournament, while no solution to the social crisis is in sight, support for the protest movement against the labour reform is dwindling," Agnes Balle of BVA ( French polling agency) said. The survey carried out on Thursday and Friday showed that 54 per cent of French people interviewed were against the protests. The same number backed the protests in May. Only 45 per cent currently support the protest movement, BVA said. The poll showed 29 per cent wanted the government to maintain the bill, which aims to make hiring and firing easier, in an attempt to get stubbornly high unemployment falling, with presidential elections a year away. The same percentage want the bill withdrawn, while 41 per cent want a negotiated solution.

Hollande puts pressure on French trade unions to refrain from strike action during Euro 2016

France&#39;s government, scrambling to end a wave of protests that could disrupt the Euro 2016 soccer championship, called today for an end to the national rail strike and told Air France pilots their plans to stop work were &quot;irresponsible&quot;. 
 
The calls came as an open-ended stoppage at the railways entered its third day, reducing train services by about half, a week before the June 10 opening of the soccer tournament which should draw some 2.5 million fans, many of them from abroad. 
 
Transport minister Alain Vidalies said the government had satisfied union demands to protect rest periods for rail workers and help with the 50 billion euro ($55.76 billion) debt of the Soci?t? nationale des chemins de fer fran?ais rail company(SNCF), saying the militant Conf?d?ration g?n?rale du travail (CGT) union should call off its action. 
 
&quot;It&#39;s time to acknowledge the progress that&#39;s been made and to get back to work,&quot; the minister told RTL radio. 
 
The Socialist government has intervened in internal talks on reorganisation of the SNCF to try to defuse tensions, and made concessions to avert an air traffic controllers&#39; strike. But it now faces a walkout by pilots at flag carrier Air France next week. 
 
&quot;This is irresponsible,&quot; the minister said, adding that nobody would understand why a stoppage over planned pay curbs was timed to start one day into the month-long soccer event. 
 
Two unions representing the bulk of Air France pilots have given notice of a strike from June 11 to 14 and said they may schedule further stoppages. 
 
The militant CGT union is spearheading strikes at the state rail company and at refinieries and nuclear power stations in a bid to force the government to withdraw a contested reform of labour laws that would make hiring and firing easier. 
 
The core protest has coincided with sectoral issues such as difficult reorganisation negotiations to prepare the SNCF for Europe-wide liberalisation of train traffic in 2020 and, at Air France, efforts to reduce costs. 
 
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said the CGT union, one of the two large unions in France, was waging an increasingly lonely war now that most other unions had dropped their grievances. 
 
&quot;If we gave into the CGT, a union which is in the minority even if I respect its history and struggle, it would no longer be possible to reform France,&quot; he told l&#39;Est Republicain.

The transport strike is taking place in a bid to force the French government to withdraw labour reform bill which will grant companies power to hire and fire workers and extend working hours.

France's government, scrambling to end a wave of protests that could disrupt the Euro 2016 soccer championship, called today for an end to the national rail strike and told Air France pilots their plans to stop work were "irresponsible". The calls came as an open-ended stoppage at the railways entered its third day, reducing train services by about half, a week before the June 10 opening of the soccer tournament which should draw some 2.5 million fans, many of them from abroad. Transport minister Alain Vidalies said the government had satisfied union demands to protect rest periods for rail workers and help with the 50 billion euro ($55.76 billion) debt of the Soci?t? nationale des chemins de fer fran?ais rail company(SNCF), saying the militant Conf?d?ration g?n?rale du travail (CGT) union should call off its action. "It's time to acknowledge the progress that's been made and to get back to work," the minister told RTL radio. The Socialist government has intervened in internal talks on reorganisation of the SNCF to try to defuse tensions, and made concessions to avert an air traffic controllers' strike. But it now faces a walkout by pilots at flag carrier Air France next week. "This is irresponsible," the minister said, adding that nobody would understand why a stoppage over planned pay curbs was timed to start one day into the month-long soccer event. Two unions representing the bulk of Air France pilots have given notice of a strike from June 11 to 14 and said they may schedule further stoppages. The militant CGT union is spearheading strikes at the state rail company and at refinieries and nuclear power stations in a bid to force the government to withdraw a contested reform of labour laws that would make hiring and firing easier. The core protest has coincided with sectoral issues such as difficult reorganisation negotiations to prepare the SNCF for Europe-wide liberalisation of train traffic in 2020 and, at Air France, efforts to reduce costs. Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said the CGT union, one of the two large unions in France, was waging an increasingly lonely war now that most other unions had dropped their grievances. "If we gave into the CGT, a union which is in the minority even if I respect its history and struggle, it would no longer be possible to reform France," he told l'Est Republicain.

French government urges end to strikes a week from Euro soccer