Police sent into airports to maintain security

France has deployed police to Paris's main Charles de Gaulle airport to ensure a strike by security workers does not interfere with holiday travel, the interior ministry said.

Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

The strike by workers demanding wage increases entered a seventh day on Thursday, but has so far had a limited impact on international flights, with only some delays reported.

The police officers will work alongside non-striking security workers and will be responsible for checking passengers and baggage, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The main police union, Snop, said the job of the police force was not to break the strike, but to make sure airport security was maintained.

They will replace members of private security forces who have decided to go on strike.

President Nicolas Sarkozy had on Wednesday said the government would use "all necessary measures" to ensure the French holiday season was not "taken hostage" by the strike action.

The strikers are demanding a 200-euro-a-month wage rise and improvements in working conditions.

Unions say that their wages are between 1,100 and 1,400 euros per month, while the employers, who include Brink’s, Securitas and Vigimark, say they are 1,600 euros per month.

Negotiations have so far failed to resolve the dispute and on Wednesday union representatives walked out of mediated talks.

Talks resumed on Thursday, but are expected to end in an impasse.