Air France sues SNPL pilots union for not complying with Transform agreement
Jun 16, 2015, 3:27 am
#1
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Air France sues SNPL pilots union for not complying with Transform agreement
http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/artic...4730_3234.html
Hard to challenge the figures since it is internal data.
However I am a bit surprised on that move from top managers that are known to be consensual. Possible explanations :
- pilots really crossed the line
- management really lost their minds
- politics
It will be make or break IMO.
Hard to challenge the figures since it is internal data.
However I am a bit surprised on that move from top managers that are known to be consensual. Possible explanations :
- pilots really crossed the line
- management really lost their minds
- politics
It will be make or break IMO.
Jun 16, 2015, 3:43 am
#2
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Google Translate:
More than anything I'm amused that google translate used 'pilots,' 'drivers' and 'sailors' in the same article 
In a gesture of defiance , Air France drags its drivers to justice!
The rule is that "we do not run an airline against his pilots." Not at Air France. The company has declared war on the Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL), the leading organization among the sailors.
Management announced, Monday, June 15, she committed "interlocutory legal proceedings" against the SNPL. Air France accuses him of not having implemented all of Transform 2015 plan commitments This savings plan, three years, provided 20% of competitiveness efforts for all categories of personnel. Three years later, the ground staff have reached 100% of the targets. With 96%, the flight attendants are close. Only drivers would be far off the 67% of implemented only laments management.
In detail, the drivers would have realized € 130 million in savings over the $ 200 million requested. A failed due to the fifteen-day strike pilots in September 2014, which put the accounts of Air France in the red. Worse, after seven months of negotiations between management and the SNPL, the union still refuses to hold all its commitments. With this injunction, the management wants justice endorse a provision of Transform plan that gives the CEO of the company the power to decide if blocked.
"False," retorted the SNPL, which ensures "have complied with the agreement."
The " panic sets "
While management and SNPL tear before the courts, the accounts of Air France skid. The long-haul unit revenue, the gain per passenger slumps. And the decline accelerated since April, acknowledged the CEO Frédéric Gagey. The "panic sets in," says the SNPL. The union denounced "the lack of ambition, strategy and vision of the direction."
To cope, Air France has declared an emergency savings plan of 80 million euros. The company will cut anything that is losing money. Starting with the loss-making routes. She will go in Stavanger (Norway), Verona (Italy), Vigo (Spain), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). It will reduce the frequency of its flights to Russia, Brazil and Japan. Air France also wants to get rid of its old aircraft. The output of the fleet of a third A340 will be "anticipated". The company will also delay the arrival of new aircraft, the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft because the payment is made on delivery. For now, not double this savings plan of a fourth plane departures. But management has planned to take stock in late September, 2015
The rule is that "we do not run an airline against his pilots." Not at Air France. The company has declared war on the Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL), the leading organization among the sailors.
Management announced, Monday, June 15, she committed "interlocutory legal proceedings" against the SNPL. Air France accuses him of not having implemented all of Transform 2015 plan commitments This savings plan, three years, provided 20% of competitiveness efforts for all categories of personnel. Three years later, the ground staff have reached 100% of the targets. With 96%, the flight attendants are close. Only drivers would be far off the 67% of implemented only laments management.
In detail, the drivers would have realized € 130 million in savings over the $ 200 million requested. A failed due to the fifteen-day strike pilots in September 2014, which put the accounts of Air France in the red. Worse, after seven months of negotiations between management and the SNPL, the union still refuses to hold all its commitments. With this injunction, the management wants justice endorse a provision of Transform plan that gives the CEO of the company the power to decide if blocked.
"False," retorted the SNPL, which ensures "have complied with the agreement."
The " panic sets "
While management and SNPL tear before the courts, the accounts of Air France skid. The long-haul unit revenue, the gain per passenger slumps. And the decline accelerated since April, acknowledged the CEO Frédéric Gagey. The "panic sets in," says the SNPL. The union denounced "the lack of ambition, strategy and vision of the direction."
To cope, Air France has declared an emergency savings plan of 80 million euros. The company will cut anything that is losing money. Starting with the loss-making routes. She will go in Stavanger (Norway), Verona (Italy), Vigo (Spain), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). It will reduce the frequency of its flights to Russia, Brazil and Japan. Air France also wants to get rid of its old aircraft. The output of the fleet of a third A340 will be "anticipated". The company will also delay the arrival of new aircraft, the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft because the payment is made on delivery. For now, not double this savings plan of a fourth plane departures. But management has planned to take stock in late September, 2015
Jun 16, 2015, 3:32 pm
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http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/201...es-pilotes.php
AF states that they brought this to court so that a point of detail is clarified and acted : when the "Transform Observatory Council" do not find an agreement, AF CEO can take the decision. At the moment, the SNPL refuses this point and its position is that if they don't agree, the item should be left over.
AF states that they brought this to court so that a point of detail is clarified and acted : when the "Transform Observatory Council" do not find an agreement, AF CEO can take the decision. At the moment, the SNPL refuses this point and its position is that if they don't agree, the item should be left over.
Jun 17, 2015, 12:23 am
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The SNPL answer has also been that pilots fly planes, not unions, and that the law suit is therefore nonsensical. I haven't looked at the details of AF's case and maybe should not comment on that basis, but on the face of it, I have a certain sympathy for that argument. There seems to be a certain paradox in continuously referring to "the pilots" and suing a union. I think it betrays a misconception quite deeply engrained in the AF view of the world and seemed like it would be less socially unpopular move than suing the airline's actual employees.
Jun 17, 2015, 1:09 am
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The word "suing" can cover many actions. In France the "procédure en référé" allows to get an "emergency" ruling. This procedure allows for a fast provisional judgment by a single judge. The decision can be implemented immediately but it is provisional pending the results of a full-fledged legal procedure. Here the technical issue that needs clarification is a clause of the agreement "Transform 2015" adopted in 2012.
As the technical point in question is about the management of the agreement, it seems justified to assign the unions as their representatives are the ones sitting on the "Observatoire de la Transformation", rather than individual pilots.
As the technical point in question is about the management of the agreement, it seems justified to assign the unions as their representatives are the ones sitting on the "Observatoire de la Transformation", rather than individual pilots.
Jun 19, 2015, 10:37 am
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I disagree. I think AF management is very much the main culprit. What you say about the SNPL is completely right, but making them responsible for AF's failures seems to me to be entirely barking at the wrong tree.
Jun 22, 2015, 6:23 am
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Jun 22, 2015, 7:08 am
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Court will rule on the 3rd of July : http://www.leparisien.fr/flash-actua...15-4883223.php
Jun 24, 2015, 12:55 am
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Even though I do not like the SNPL managers, I find it really odd to make a union responsible for not increasing productivity of "their" pilots, as Air France builds the planning of crews, not the union.
Also, it is really difficult to maintain salary level, keep everyone onboard and close lots of routes, and still increase employee productivity.
On top of working time, operational costs could also be decreased, essentially by reducing unnecessary comfort :
- Making pilots wait in an hotel room at CDG when they are on call
- Granting pilots Exec rooms or suites in hotels abroad
- etc.
Also, it is really difficult to maintain salary level, keep everyone onboard and close lots of routes, and still increase employee productivity.
On top of working time, operational costs could also be decreased, essentially by reducing unnecessary comfort :
- Making pilots wait in an hotel room at CDG when they are on call
- Granting pilots Exec rooms or suites in hotels abroad
- etc.
Jun 24, 2015, 2:21 am
#14
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Even though I do not like the SNPL managers, I find it really odd to make a union responsible for not increasing productivity of "their" pilots, as Air France builds the planning of crews, not the union.
Also, it is really difficult to maintain salary level, keep everyone onboard and close lots of routes, and still increase employee productivity.
On top of working time, operational costs could also be decreased, essentially by reducing unnecessary comfort :
- Making pilots wait in an hotel room at CDG when they are on call
- Granting pilots Exec rooms or suites in hotels abroad
- etc.
Also, it is really difficult to maintain salary level, keep everyone onboard and close lots of routes, and still increase employee productivity.
On top of working time, operational costs could also be decreased, essentially by reducing unnecessary comfort :
- Making pilots wait in an hotel room at CDG when they are on call
- Granting pilots Exec rooms or suites in hotels abroad
- etc.
Maybe it is linked to the "strike" days they had to pay in September 2014. In the past, they were forced by the courts to pay the days when a pilot was not flying; pay being only withheld for the time when they were supposed to be flying the planes but did not. At least, this is what I remember. I do not know if that was also the case for the 2014 strike. Or maybe there are other reasons.
Jun 24, 2015, 3:47 am
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It would be interesting to know what is the exact AF complain.
Maybe it is linked to the "strike" days they had to pay in September 2014. In the past, they were forced by the courts to pay the days when a pilot was not flying; pay being only withheld for the time when they were supposed to be flying the planes but did not. At least, this is what I remember. I do not know if that was also the case for the 2014 strike. Or maybe there are other reasons.
Maybe it is linked to the "strike" days they had to pay in September 2014. In the past, they were forced by the courts to pay the days when a pilot was not flying; pay being only withheld for the time when they were supposed to be flying the planes but did not. At least, this is what I remember. I do not know if that was also the case for the 2014 strike. Or maybe there are other reasons.
Dans le détail, les pilotes n’auraient réalisé que 130 millions d’euros d’économies sur les 200 millions demandés. Un raté lié aux quinze jours de grève des pilotes en septembre 2014, qui ont mis les comptes d’Air France dans le rouge
The pilots have only realized 130 million Euros of savings/cost cutting against the 200 million demanded by the Transform plan. A misser linked to the 15 days of pilot strike in September 2014, which put AF's accounts in the red.
Cheers,
GenevaFlyer