In a land where labor unions strike more often than matches, the two French Air Traffic Controllers unions (SNCTA and Unsa-ICNA) have voted to stage a six-day strike next week between June 24th and 29th.
The Daily Telegraph reports the two unions will walk off during the busy summer getaway season, in protest of budget cuts. A strike last summer reduced the amount of air traffic in France by 50 percent, and another this January caused a reduction in 20 percent of short and medium-range flights from Paris.
This time around, officials warn of a "heavy disruption" and once again expect about 50 percent of flights to be canceled. The strikers are protesting the budget cuts slated between 2015 and 2019, arguing they will threaten the "necessary performance and modernisation needed to ensure an efficient air navigation service in France."
A European Commission plan, called Single Sky Europe, aims to reduce air navigation costs by arranging airspace into regions, according to traffic flows (like we have here in the U.S.) rather than national borders. This transit-crippling move comes on the heels of a 9-day rail workers' strike that is just winding down, with most workers returning to their jobs on Thursday.