Baggage handlers at Paris’ Orly airport walked off the job on Saturday after refusing to unload planes arriving from Mexico and Spain.
They feard contamination by the A (H1N1) flu. Health officials report 22 possible cases of so-called « swine flu » in France but stress that only two are confirmed and that the outbreak is so far unexceptional.
The workers refused to handle bags from a flight from the Mexican resort of Cancun and about a dozen subsequent services which arrived from Spain.
Officials recognise that they were exercising a right guaranteed by French law to stay off the job if they have reason to believe that their health or life is in danger.