KLM and their staff always had tense relations with AF management. Nothing new.
Pieter Elbers is 48 and spent all his career at KLM. He was of the many considered for AFKL CEO job but drew opposition from the French side. BS might want to have a "docile" KLM CEO when Elbers' mandate expires.
On the other hand, journalists like to write provocative articles that blow some signals out of proportion.