Unrest in Champagne as workers strike

There is unrest at some of the major Champagne Houses with workers going on strike this week over pay rates and job security.

Workers at Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy Champagne houses in Reims walked out - and employees from Pernod Ricard’s G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët joined the strike action, industry website www.just-drinks.com reported.

The protests highlighted growing discontent among staff in the LVMH wine and spirits arm.

Unions says that cost-cutting measures are putting jobs and livelihoods at risk.

While Pernod Ricard employees were also involved in the Reims demonstrations, the strike action from LVMH staff comes at a turbulent time for the group’s drinks division.

LVMH’s wine and spirits business is under financial strain following years of expansion. The Financial Times has reported the division made a loss of €1.5 billion in 2024. 

The downturn is blamed on aggressive price increases, underperforming acquisitions, and a costly push into direct-to-consumer channels. Sales have dropped back to near-2019 levels.

Pernod Ricard workers, meanwhile, protested outside the Mumm cellars.

Stéphane Levasseur, secretary of the economic and social committee at Mumm, told Just Drinks that around 60 Mumm employees took part in the strike.

He cited two key reasons for the stoppage: a failure to secure wage increases in annual negotiations and concerns over the “potential sale of Mumm by Pernod Ricard to another buyer”.

“There will certainly be other strike movements in the coming weeks,” Levasseur said. "And these will be amplified if the sale of Mumm Champagne is confirmed.”

Image: Milton Cogheil, Scop.io 

Warning: US hotel staff could soon be on strike

Imagine booking a conference, or even a room, at a hotel and then finding that the staff are on strike.

More than 13,000 hotel workers in four US cities may vote for strikes in the coming weeks.

It is predicted that picket lines could disrupt meetings and conventions, travel media portal Skift reports.

Contract talks at Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and Omni properties in Boston, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Providence, Rhode Island are currently underway.

Unite Here, the union representing the workers, said voting will begin on August 6 at 125 hotels in the four locations. 

If workers vote to authorise strikes, they could begin any time after contracts expire. Contracts in some cities have already expired, while others run out in the coming weeks.

In total, over 40,000 hotel workers with the Unite Here union have contracts up for renegotiation this year in more than 20 cities across the US and Canada. 

“Momentum is building for strikes this year because workers are at a breaking point while the hotel industry is making record profits,” said Unite Here International President Gwen Mills. 

Among the demands of workers are a raise in wages and the reversal of staffing cuts that have led to fewer employees doing more.

Any strike puts event planners in a tough spot. Cancelling or changing venues will cost money but many attendees may want to show support for workers.

Image: Marco Simola, Scop.io

Off the rails: French train travel impacted by strike

Planning to catch a train in France this weekend? Good luck.

Travellers are being warned major disruptions to French rail services will likely last until Monday morning.

Industrial action by SNCF train managers started on Thursday and is also affecting Eurostar services, Travel Mole reports.

“Due to a train manager strike in France, we’ll be running a revised timetable on our routes until Sunday,” Eurostar said.

The strike - which followers delayed negotiations over wages deals - will continue to affect national and regional services over the weekend with travellers being advised to check train operator’s advice before travelling. 

The French love a strike, of course, particularly at a busy time. 

The SNCF expected that only half of high-speed TGV services would run over the holiday weekend.

SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou criticised the strike action for "disrupting the lives of French people who want to go on holiday".

”We will try to run all the trains that head to the Alps and the Pyrénées for the winter holidays,” he said. Because nothing is more important than a ski break.

Jet2 warned travellers on half-term breaks to plan ahead for transport to and from airports.

“Allow extra time for your journey to the airport as we are operating all our flights as scheduled.” it said.

“If you have a Jet2holidays transfer, this will not be affected by this industrial action.”

SNCF has advised people not to travel.

“Passengers are urged to postpone travel if possible,” it said.

Here is the SNCFR advice: https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/help/disruption-information

Airline cancels thousands of flights

If you have booked northern summer flights with budget airline easyjet then you might want to check your ticket is still valid.

Thousands of holidaymakers’ plans are up in the air after easyjet cancelled 1,700 flights with an eye on possible strikes across Europe.

The airline scrapped flights for July, August and September, most of them to and from London's Gatwick Airport, Travel Mole reported.

The carrier cited potential air traffic control issues caused by mooted strikes, as canvassed here a few days ago.

Most of the thousands of affected customers have already been re-booked onto other flights, the airline said.

Easyjet noted the "challenging conditions this summer" with rail strikes at home, airspace constraints and the planned strikes by air traffic controllers in Europe.

“We have made some pre-emptive adjustments consolidating a small number of flights at Gatwick,” the airline said.

“All customers are provided with the option to rebook or receive a refund.”

Apparently, around 180,000 flyers in total are affected.

Striking a blow: the French are at it again

Several airports across France will cancel flights due to more strike action planned for this Monday - May 1.

Stoppages are planned as air traffic controllers walk out, Travel Mole reports.

France’s civil aviation authority says the strikes are expected to heavily impact Paris airports Orly, CDG (above) and Beauvais, as well as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Nice.

The next series of the long-running protests against the raising of the pension age in France are planned nationwide for May Day, with flights likely affected from today until early on Tuesday.

Air traffic controllers have also been conducting their own rolling strikes independent of the countrywide pension protests.

Even travellers flying over French territory could be affected.

The DGAC civil aviation authority has asked airlines to cancel one-third of scheduled flights at Orly Airport and 25% at Charles de Gaulle, Nice and Beauvais.

It wants 33% of flights grounded at the other airports too.

Around 3,700 flights overfly France every day.

More Heathrow chaos predicted in time for coronation

I personally have zero interest in the coronation of a rather dweebish king.

I just think he and his equally unappealing consort should pay for their own ghastly extravaganza and not expect struggling British taxpayers to foot the bill.

If you are heading for the Charles and Camilla show, however, you might want to make sure you get to London in plenty of time.

Because, as certain as the fact that night follows day, there is talk of another transport strike.

Travel Mole reports that more "Inevitable disruption and delays" are expected at Heathrow Airport next month as 1,400 security officers plan yet another an airport strike.

The industrial action is likely cause some disruption for travellers arriving for the ghastly event.

Security guards also took part in a 10-day airports strike over Easter.

“This dispute is bound to escalate with more workers being balloted and disruption set to continue throughout the summer,” said Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham.

The last strike involved the security officers based at Terminal 5.

Heathrow is acting all defiant.

“We will not let Unite disrupt the flow of visitors to the UK during such an important period for the country,” it said in a statement.

Airport management says it has offered a 10% pay increase plus a lump sum.

The strike could overlap with more industrial action at Passport Office locations.

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members plan strikes from May 2-6.

Here we go again: more French strikes planned

Good luck to anyone visiting France in early March.

More travel disruption is expected with another nationwide strike being planned.

More pension protests are set to cause domestic travel chaos on Tuesday, March 7, Travel Mole reports.

The UK Foreign Office has warned to prepare for disruption at airports the day before and the day after strike.

“Industrial action may start the evening before and run until the morning after," it said.

“Localised or sector-specific strikes could also occur outside these dates.”

It advises all travellers to check the latest advice with operators before travelling as buses, trains and airports are all likely to be affected.

Unions said the strike on March 7 could become a weekly occurrence as union's up their action against proposed pension reforms.

France’s public transport will likely be a major focus for walkouts.

Unions told French media the action will "bring France to a standstill". 

Travel chaos set to continue in Britain

In Britain, trains are often delayed or cancelled because of "the wrong sort of leaves on the track".

It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that Britons have been warned that the current travel chaos plaguing that country would last for a further 18 months.

The end of travel restrictions and Brexit have created a perfect storm for ill-prepared airlines and airport operators.

Large-scale cancellations and delays could last for another 18 months says Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

Which sounds like a good reason not to visit Britain in 2022.

“I think it will take 12 to 18 months for the aviation sector to fully recover capacity, so we will have to really carefully manage supply and demand,” Holland-Kay said at the Financial Times’ Global Boardroom conference.

He urged the Government to streamline rules further for security background checks to speed up the hiring of new staff.

“What we saw in some airports over the past few weeks is that supply and demand were out of balance... we need to make sure we are planning much better,” he said.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said agents and call handlers are receiving "a significant number" of calls from concerned customers

“About 30% of all calls are from customers that are reading the headlines, have bookings for July and August and are worried," she said.

It is "hideous and disappointing" for customers who find their flights are being cancelled.

Cancellations continued this week with easyJet and Wizz Air among the airlines scrapping flights, Travel Mole reported.

To add to the travel chaos, Britain is bracing for the largest rail strike in decades after unuons announced industrial action on June 2, 23 and 25.