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Strikes of air traffic controllers, taxi drivers hit traffic in France

Xinhua, January 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Air traffic controllers and taxi drivers are staging a one-day strike in France to protest working conditions and poor wages, a move which is causing traffic disruptions.

One flight out of five from Paris' key airports Charles de Gaulle and Orly are cancelled due to the air traffic controllers' action against reforms expected to weaken their purchasing power and lead to major layoffs, according to them.

On Monday, French civil aviation authority DGAC called on airlines to cancel 20 percent of their flights.

The country's main flag carrier, Air France, pledged to operate all of its long-haul flights and more than 80 percent of its short and medium-haul flights in France and in Europe.

However, "last-minute delays or cancellations cannot be ruled out," it said.

Meanwhile, access to airports and major cities are blocked in the Ile de France region as taxi drivers are protesting unfair competition over fears they will lose their jobs and customers to U.S. online ride sharing service UberPOP.

At Porte Maillot, one of main entries to the French capital, protesters have burnt tires and put up barricades, disrupting traffic for two hours.

A spokesman from Taxi de France collective, Thierry Guichard, told France Info radio, "We can not, over time, develop jobs that have the same objective with completely different rules. The situation is untenable as they ask one to have all the regulatory burden and expense while the others have nothing to pay."

Twenty taxi drivers were arrested on charges of "violence, starting fires, and carrying weapons," according to local reports.

In order to ease the tension, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls will meet a delegation of taxi drivers later on Tuesday.

Trade unions also called on public servants to take to the country's streets to demand better pay which had been frozen since 2010 as a part of the government's efforts to cut public spending so as to better manage its finances.

According to the education ministry, 11 percent of French teachers responded to the union call to stop working on Tuesday. Endit