Cognac in crisis: grape growers to demonstrate

Unhappy times in Charente with angry grape growers for Cognac producers planning a major protest. 

Cognac wine growers are being called to a "strong mobilization to demonstrate" at the Moisans distillery (above) on Wednesday in Sireuil, the General Union of Winegrowers for the Cognac AOC (UGVC) announced. 

It follows a previous demo in 2024 and aims to "enforce the contracts of winegrowers whose contracts have been illegally terminated by certain producers," French wine industry newsletter Vitisphere reports. 

The UGVC is targeting the Moisans Distillery, which produces Cognacs under the Deau, Roland Bru, and Moisans cognacs, Vitisphere said. 

Confirming that his business had reduced about 20 contracts with winegrowers by 60%, Olivier Petit, the managing director of the Moisans distillery, defended his operations. 

“I don’t know why we’re being targeted; we reduced our contracts like everyone else," he said. "We’re not perfect, and I would have preferred to honour everything. 

"We reduced the contracts based on our bottle sales capacity; I can’t buy what I can’t sell and pay for."

Petit complained about discounting in the industry. 

"We’re doing everything we can to respect our partners,” Petit added. 

The UGVC said: "The Moisans distillery has significantly reduced its commitments despite signed contracts, and has even failed to pay winegrowers for wines purchased from them.

"While some winegrowers are directly affected by contracts with this company, the entire wine industry is actually threatened by this kind of practice." 

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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

Flyers "at risk" when they fly in and out of Australian airports

If you are flying to and from major Australian airports you'd hope that your safety would be a paramount concern. 

Not so, according to the teams that are responsible for aviation firefighting. 

Leaked documents show air travellers at 13 major Australian airports are at "extreme risk" due

to insufficient staffing and passengers at Australia’s 14 remaining airports are at ‘high risk.’

Airservices Australia, a Federal Government-owned corporation, is responsible for the provision of aviation firefighting services at Australia’s airports but stands accused of hiding key information about airport firefighting services. 

In response, aviation firefighters will undertake a four-hour work stoppage on April 15. 

Airports deemed at "extreme risk" due to a lack of aviation firefighting resources include Brisbane,

Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, while travellers at the remaining 14 airports, including Sydney, Canberra and Hobart, are at "high risk".

The internal documents, called the Task Resource Analysis (TRA), are an internationally recognised methodology used to "establish justification as to the minimum number of qualified/competent personnel required to deliver an effective Airport Rescue Firefighting Service to deal with an aircraft incident/accident" by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The TRA involves an independent analysis of safety risk at each Australian airport and assesses whether the resources, including aviation firefighting trucks, firefighters, equipment, and procedures, are sufficient to mitigate that risk for air travellers. 

In protest under protected industrial action, aviation firefighters have announced that they will be stopping work to draw attention to the safety issues. 

Wes Garrett, the United Firefighters Union-Aviation Branch secretary, said that the leaked documents confirmed the Union's claims over several years about the lack of resources available to protect Australia’s air travellers and the ongoing risk to their safety.

“These leaked documents confirm that Australia’s air travellers face a dire risk every time they set foot on an aircraft in Australia, should an incident occur," Garrett said.

“The documents found that the safety of air travellers was being threatened should an incident occur due to a range of resource and personnel shortages.

“These resource shortages include a lack of key personnel to operate breathing apparatus, shortages of firefighting agents to suppress multiple incidents, insufficient personnel and vehicles to protect both sides of a crashed aircraft, a lack of personnel for effective fire ground command and control, and a lack of procedural control at Australia’s airports.

“Clearly, this significant and ongoing risk to all Australian air travellers is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.

“Disgracefully, Airservices have known about the dire risk to air travellers should an incident occur since 2022 - and have refused to release the documents to the union or the public."

Image: Michele Valotti, Scop.io