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Air France workers rip shirts from executives after airline cuts 2,900 jobs Air France workers rip shirts from executives after airline cuts 2,900 jobs
(about 4 hours later)
Angry workers at Air France have attacked and ripped the shirts from the backs of two company executives after the airline announced 2,900 job losses on Monday morning. Striking staff at Air France have taken demonstrating their anger with direct action to a shocking new level. Approximately 100 workers forced their way into a meeting of the airline’s senior management and ripped the shirts from the backs of the executives.
Several hundred employees were reported to have stormed the company’s central committee meeting at its headquarters near Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, forcing senior managers to flee. The airline filed a criminal complaint after the employees stormed its headquarters, near Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, in what was condemned as a “scandalous” outbreak of violence.
Violence erupted shortly after 9.30am as airline executives met to finalise the latest restructuring plan involving the loss of 1,700 ground staff, 900 cabin crew and 300 pilots between now and 2017. Photographs showed one ashen-faced director being led through a baying crowd, his clothes torn to shreds. In another picture, the deputy head of human resources, bare-chested after workers ripped off his shirt and jacket, is seen being pushed to safety over a fence.
As executives arrived for the meeting, they were greeted by a noisy crowd of employees shouting and waving flags, before dozens of workers forced their way into the building shouting: “This is our home.” Tensions between management and workers at France’s loss-making flagship carrier had been building over the weekend in the runup to a meeting to finalise a controversial “restructuring plan” involving 2,900 redundancies between now and 2017. The proposed job losses involve 1,700 ground staff, 900 cabin crew and 300 pilots.
As they invaded the committee room, the Air France chief executive, Frédéric Gagey, managed to escape unharmed. Moments later, Pierre Plissonnier, the vice-president of the Air France hub at Orly airport in the French capital, was led through the jostling crowd with his shirt and jacket torn off his back. After the violence erupted at about 9.30am on Monday morning, there was widespread condemnation from French union leaders who sought to blame each other’s members for the assaults.
Xavier Broseta, the deputy director for human resources and labour relations, also had to flee, half-naked, after workers ripped his suit jacket and shirt. Security guards helped Broseta climb over a fence. Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, said the attacks were “undignified and unacceptable”, while Claude Mailly, of Force Ouvrière (Workers Force) said he understood Air France workers’ exasperation, but added: “One can fight management without being violent.”
Air France said it had lodged a police complaint over the physical violence. It was founded in 1933 and in 2004 merged with the Dutch airline KLM, founded in 1919, creating Air France-KLM, the world’s fifth largest air transport company. Manuel Valls, France’s prime minister, said he was “scandalised” by the behaviour of the workers and offered the airline chiefs his “full support”.
But increased competition from Middle Eastern rivals and budget airlines led the loss-making group to seek €1.8bn (£1.3bn) in savings. The company is also looking to close five long-haul routes and sell off 14 of its larger long-distance aircraft. Air France said it had lodged an official police complaint for “aggravated violence”.
Earlier, Philippe Martinez, the secretary general of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) trade union, told RTL radio: “For several years now, successive heads of Air France have suggested rescue plans ... Each time, it’s a bottomless pit with the same suggestions. Several hundred airline employees had gathered to demonstrate outside Air France’s head office and members of senior management were greeted by an angry crowd shouting and waving flags and placards featuring the company chiefs portrayed as criminals in police mugshots. As executives entered the building, dozens of workers forced their way into the committee room shouting “this is our home”.
“I believe they’re trying to set one lot (of us) against the other. We need a real expert appraisal of the situation.” The Air France president, Frédéric Gagey, escaped unharmed. However Pierre Plissonnier, vice president of the airline’s Orly airport hub was attacked. Xavier Broseta, deputy director for human resources and labour relations, also felt the workers’ ire and had to flee semi-naked.
He admitted that Air France had been hard hit by the deregulation of the industry and the popularity of low-cost airlines. Afterwards Broseta told a press conference he was “shocked and disappointed” by the attack, but added “what we saw this morning is not typical of company staff”. He said: “I’ve received hundreds of messages of sympathy from union representatives and colleagues.”
Before the meeting, Stéphane Le Foll, a government spokesman, said all parties had to get around the table and thrash out an agreement. He told France Inter radio: “I call on everyone, especially the pilots, to make an effort.” The French finance minister tweeted his support for the attacked men. “Those who engage in violence are irresponsible. Nothing can replace social dialogue,” Emmanuel Macron wrote.
After the clashes on Monday morning, Air France said the committee meeting would be postponed until the afternoon, before later cancelling it altogether. The French bosses organisation, MEDEF, blamed an “irresponsible minority” for “unacceptable and scandalous aggression”.
Air France was founded in 1933 and in 2004 merged with the Dutch airline KLM to create the world’s fifth-largest air transport company.
Increased competition from Middle Eastern rivals and budget airlines recently prompted the loss-making group to seek a reorganisation and €1.8bn (£1.3bn) savings. The company is also planning to close five long-haul routes and sell off 14 of its larger, long distance aircraft.
On Monday morning, before the demonstration, Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the powerful CGT union, told RTL radio: “For several years now, successive heads of Air France have suggested rescue plans … each time, it’s a bottomless pit with the same suggestions. I believe they are trying to set one lot of us against the other. We need a real expert appraisal of the situation.” He admitted that Air France had been hard hit by the deregulation of the industry and the popularity of low-cost airlines.
Before the meeting, a government spokesperson, Stéphane Le Foll, said all parties had to get round the table to thrash out an agreement. “I call on everyone, especially the pilots, to make an effort”, he told France Inter radio.
After the violence, Air France said the committee meeting would be postponed until Monday afternoon, before cancelling it altogether. In a statement, the airline said executives were willing to negotiate with workers but “under certain conditions”.
Alexandre de Juniac, president of Air France-KLM, said the group condemned “the physical violence that took place around the executive meeting with the greatest firmness”, adding that it nevertheless “does not alter the management’s willingness to continue discussions”.
It is not the first time French workers have taken matters into their own hands with violent results. Since 2009, as the global economic crisis has escalated, several bosses have found been held hostage by angry staff.
In January 2014, workers at a Goodyear factory in northern France prevented two managers from leaving and said the pair would be held until the company gave a “satisfactory response to requests”.
Olivier Labarre, director of BTI, a human resources consultancy, told Libération newspaper in 2009: “This happens elsewhere, but to my knowledge, taking the boss hostage is typically French. It’s the nature of the social dialogue in our country.”