Air France aims to cut jobs, cancel Boeing order – union sources

On Monday morning, hundreds of workers stormed its headquarters at Charles de Gaulle Roissy airport outside Paris, interrupting a meeting between staff representatives and Air France management.

The airline’s human resources and labour relations chief Xavier Broseta had his shirt ripped off and his tie hanging from his neck as he battled through crowds of workers, seeking to escape.

Alexandre de Juniac, the CEO of Air France-KLM, had reported Friday the organization would need to slice employments subsequent to neglecting to achieve a concurrence with pilots.

Air France-KLM had already said on Thursday it would cut back its operations in the next two years in order to “guarantee a long-term future” as the stand-off with pilots continued.

Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said the violence was “unacceptable”.

A board source last week indicated the 2,900 figure had been presented as an estimate of overstaffing in 2017 for the airline, which is Europe’s largest in terms of traffic and employs 52,000 people.

The planned job cuts, which include 300 pilots, 700 flight attendants and 1,900 ground personnel, according to unions, has not gone down well in a company that has shed over 6,000 jobs in recent years.

But the French government, which owns a 17.6-percent stake, has criticised the pilots, with Prime Minister Manuel Valls denouncing their “hard-line” attitude.

Parent Air France-KLM said shortly afterwards that it planned to take legal action over “aggravated violence” carried out against its managers.

Four unions announced a strike to coincide with Monday’s meeting.

It had previously insisted that all flights would go ahead on Monday albeit with “some delays”, notably at check-in.

“They are now spectators to a crash in which they will be the first victims”, she said.

It includes measures such as a 10-percent reduction of long-haul flights, a delay in its orders for Boeing 787s and reducing its headcount.

Air France managers fled a meeting on mass job losses after angry staff members with banners and flags stormed the room. “It’s impossible, we are not on a level playing field”, he said.

In a news from the Wall Street Journal, Air France wanted to trim down €170 million ($190 million) on its annual cost for the next three years. Monday’s meeting was meant to detail the cuts, which he told Europe 1 radio would be “significant”.