French pilots have announced they are to strike during the World Cup.

Their decision was announced on the same day that militant French truckers lifted their threat to stage industrial action during the tournament. Railway workers might also go on strike during France '98.

The SNLP, which represents pilots employed by Air France, met Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot on Tuesday evening.

This Air France 747 in World Cup livery could be grounded during the tournament

They then announced they would go on strike for two weeks from 1st June in protest against the company's plans to cut its wage bill.

The World Cup starts on June 10.

Members of three of the smaller pilots unions at Air France went on strike on Sunday and Monday causing the cancellation of a third of the domestic and medium-haul flights at Paris' Orly airport and 15% at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.

Truckers' strike threat lifted

Meanwhile the threat to the tournament from militant French lorry drivers has been lifted, after they promised not to stage any more industrial action until September.

Members of the small Force Ouvriere union erected roadblocks outside several towns on Tuesday as part of a dispute about pay, but decided to end their protest even though wage talks ended without agreement.

Truck drivers will not strike until the tournament is over

"Obviously blockading cities during the cup would not be well received by the public," said the drivers' leader Roger Poletti from the militant Force Ouvriere (FO) trade union.

There have been reports that truckers would attempt to block roads to stadiums, but Poletti said: "Truckers setting up roadblocks to stadiums would risk being attacked by the public, police and provocateurs."

French truckers are promising they will not stage another strike until September, even though talks in Paris broke down without a date being set for further talks.

Olivier Fraysse: "It seems like there is no right moment to launch a strike." (3'47")

"We wanted all the lorry drivers to know that we would be ready to back them when they go on strike again," FO official Olivier Fraysse told the BBC. "This will happen, we cannot know when, but it will happen."

The union claims the haulage companies have reneged on a pay deal struck last year at the end of a five-day road blockade, but the employers insist the deal is being implemented and the workers have no justification for their higher pay demand.

A spokesman for the moderate CFDT trade union said talks broke down after truckers rejected an offer to raise reimbursement of expenses by one percent.

Olivier Fraysse of the FO union

He said no date had been agreed for further talks. "This is a sign of the employers' arrogance," he said.

Several French unions have threatened a wave of strikes in the build-up to the World Cup, aware that the government will do all it can to avoid embarrassment during the tournament.

Meanwhile, the militant Sud-Rail trade union is telling its members working for SNCF the French state railway to stop work on June 7.

Railway, energy, construction and department store workers are also staging nation-wide protests on June 4 to try force employers to settle simmering disputes before the World Cup starts.
 

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