The unions representing Air France employees have voiced impatience with a frozen pay dispute with the airline and renewed the threat of industrial action unless the Air France-KLM airline group resumes talks soon that were halted when the last chief executive resignation in May.
The group has so far refused to reopen pay talks pending the arrival of its next CEO Ben Smith from Air Canada, in late September. “The completely irresponsible attitude of Air France managers has led the unions to conclude that only a significant hardening of the conflict will force them to resolve it permanently,” the unions said in a joint statement today.
Unions representing Air France pilots, cabin crew and ground staff are demanding a 5.1% pay rise to compensate for a five-year erosion of real wages due to inflation. However, so far the airline's management have resisted such a pay hike. It has been estimated that so far this year alone strikes by disgruntled employees have cost the airline up to €335 million.
