Unions cancel four-day walkouts until new CEO arrives at Air France
The next round of industrial actions affecting Air France, scheduled from 23 to 26 of June, has been called off by the majority of unions. The representatives of pilots, ground staff and stewards have said they would prefer to wait until the airline’s new CEO arrives in July which could start a new process of negotiations.
“It will be more effective to wait for the appropriate representative, and as a result, we have decided to suspend our strike notice,” the unions announced.
Only one of the unions representing pilots, the SPAF, have expressed their will to continue with the strikes in June, so passengers won’t avoid flight disruptions completely.
The series of strikes have cost the airline more than $450 million so far. With the walkouts, the unions demanded to secure a wage increase of 5.1 per cent for the airline’s employees.
Air France called on unions to reconsider the latest strikes because more industrial action “would worsen the company’s situation and have a major impact on our customers on the eve of the busy summer period”.
The unions have criticised the new leadership of Air France for not responding to the fact that a pay deal was rejected by employees at the airline on 4 May.
In the consultation with Air France employees, 55 per cent of staff rejected the wage deal proposed by the company’s management, which led to the resignation of CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac.
Air France recently brought in an interim president Anne-Marie Couderc to fill the role temporarily. The new CEO is expected to take the position in July.
