© Reuters. Passengers wait at the Eurostar terminal after a strike at Eurotunnel 12/21/2023 REUTERS/Isabel InfantesPARIS (Reuters) – An unexpected strike by French workers on the undersea Eurotunnel between Britain and continental Europe halted train services across the English Channel on Thursday, threatening Christmas holiday plans for many passengers.
“As a result of today's strike call by representatives of French Eurotunnel workers' unions, our terminals in France and the UK have been completely cut off and our terminals have been closed,” a spokesman for Gedling, the company that manages the tunnel, said in an email. Report.
The company said unions had rejected a 1,000 euro ($1,097.60) bonus payment announced by management and wanted to triple that amount.
Union officials of the company could not immediately be reached.
Train operator Eurostar said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “If possible, we recommend postponing your journey until tomorrow.”
On its travel update page, Eurostar said train services to and from London had been suspended.
Several unverified social media posts from people trying to get to London or Paris for Christmas said they were stuck on trains or stations. Some cited that trains may have returned to their departure stations.
(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski and Sudip Khar-Gupta)
