Pilots walked out to protest plans to expand low-cost operations with flight crews paid less than at the main carrier.
The strike threatens to undermine efforts by Air France executives to bring costs in line with discount rivals such as EasyJet Plc, now France’s second-biggest airline, and Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA), which has bought higher-capacity aircraft that will help cut fares. Air France has lost money on brief flights for years and aims to change that by developing a short-haul business through its Transavia leisure unit.
Former Dutch charter unit Transavia has already expanded into France and will move to bases around Europe with a fleet that could double in size, the company said last week. It confirmed plans that unions say will prompt job losses and pay cuts at the main airline.
While pilots at the mainline Air France unit fly about 500 to 600 hours a year, their counterparts at the French Transavia carrier fly 700 to 750 hours.
Pilots at Transavia Europe may be working even longer hours, as costs will be lower at the new operation.
Air France’s SNPL union wants pilots across the company to be paid the same wages and have the same working conditions. Air France-KLM CEO De Juniac said Sept. 11 that if pilots don’t accept the company’s strategy, expansion of Transavia’s French unit may be put on hold. Flights could be added through a new Transavia Europe division that might be based elsewhere.
The strike could be Air France’s worst since an eight-day walkout in 1998 over the French government’s plan for an initial public offering of the airline.
Air France flights operated by other airlines, including Hop!, KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc., a partner in SkyTeam, aren’t affected by the strike.
Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest airline, avoided a walkout by pilots today after the Vereinigung Cockpit union agreed to return to talks over retirement benefits. Like Air France, the German airline is trying to bring costs into line with carriers such as Ryanair, Europe’s discount leader.
taken from here
SOYMB supports workers endeavouring to protect their interests. What we are witnessing here is just one of the many struggles workers have on a regular basis to hang onto what others have struggled for and won in earlier days. Wages and/or pensions are constantly under threat and longer hours or even unpaid overtime become the norm. Knock-on effects for the public may be anything from more uncomfortable, cramped airline journeys to serious cuts in safety standards.
The bottom line is whether one supports separate, incremental 'baby-step' reforms (taking we know not how long) or goes for the whole hog - a socialist revolution?
JS
1 comment:
i had the bad luck to have been booked to fly Air France via Paris. My return leg was affected and meant that i was flown by British Airways via London so it is costing Air France money to defeat the unions.
This strike of course has its roots in the "de-skilling" of pilots by Ryanair and other so-called budget airlines. Certain train drivers now earn more than some "airplane drivers".
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