Some ten unions representing the interests of Air France workers have refused to attend the airline’s planned negotiations saying in a statement that the “process won’t serve the interests of our company”.
Alexandre de Juniac, Chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM, and Frédéric Gagey, Chairman and CEO of Air France, stated that they “regret that the company representative trade unions have decided not to participate in the first of a series of meetings to discuss the future of Air France scheduled on Monday 16 March. The date for this meeting had been chosen to coincide with the trade union elections that took place on 12 March and not for the convenience of the Management. All other interpretations are incorrect and do not support the best interests of the Company and its staff”.
The meeting on 16 March was supposed to launch a new round of talks related to the company’s savings drive, dubbed Perform 2020 – a continuation of the social dialogue that has led to the success of Transform 2015.
The airline management has proposed a new round of meetings, “at a future date that will suit all parties”.