Air France to face ‘massive’ pilots’ strike Monday if weekend talks fail
Unions at Air France predict a “massive” strike by pilots starting Monday. Although management called off a meeting on Friday afternoon the company insists it continues to negotiate to avoid the stoppage.
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The strike, due to last seven days starting Monday, should be “massive”, Jean-Louis Barber, who heads the main union to call the strike, the SNPL, said on Thursday.
Air France management on Friday cancelled a meeting with unions scheduled for the afternoon, but said that negotiations with the SNPL are ongoing and will continue over the weekend.
The company will have a clear idea of the strike’s impact on Saturday morning, since French law requires transport workers to notify their employer if they intend to join a strike two days before it starts.
It will announce which flights can be maintained during the day and has told customers they can change their tickets if necessary.
The industrial action could cost 10-15 million euros a day, according to Air France boss Frédéric Gagey.
The SNPL and another union, Alter, are demanding the same conditions for all Air France pilots as the company plans to expand its low-cost service, Transavia, from 14 to 37 planes and open new bases in Europe with local contracts.
The company says it is ready to “compensate” pilots who volunteer to work at Transavia and says 220-250 jobs could be created.
In August it opened a redundancy programme for 200 of its 3,700 pilots.
Pilots at short-haul carrier Hop! Are reported to be unhappy about the strike and a third union, Spac Regional, has called for it to be broken.
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