Air France: Inter-Trade Union Committee Demands Dropping of Judicial Proceedings and Disciplinary Procedures Against All Workers

Twelve professional organizations at Air France, meeting on October 13 as an inter-trade union committee, condemn the method of arrest of Air France workers following the events at the central works council meeting of October 5, 2015.

Because the conditions of arrest of these workers, who are presumed innocent, appear closer to those used to arrest potential terrorists than those for desperate workers, themselves victims of the social violence into which they have been plunged,

Because social dialog is primordial,

Because the trade union organizations are the only ones able to transform the social violence of the plans of Air France’s management, which are under negotiation,

Because excessive media coverage and judicial relentlessness do not favor a return to serenity and to social dialog at the airline,

Our trade union organizations are demanding the dropping of judicial proceedings and disciplinary procedures against all the workers.

Because Air France, the flagship of French airlines, is in a state of crisis today due to the lack of a coherent strategic vision on the part of its directors,

Because our airline is the victim of a lack of support from its largest shareholder, the French State, which nevertheless is the “moral proprietor” of Air France,

Because the State, which regulates the airlines, handicaps the economic environment in which our airline has been plunged and often arbitrates in favor of our rivals,

Because the layoffs envisaged by Air France’s management, in a context of growth in air transport, amounts to a major error,

Because an ambitious future for Air France is possible,

We call for a mobilization of all the workers on October 22, 2015, so as to demand a different future for Air France.