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.

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