Originally Posted by
BA6948
All of the above mentioned items will have to go through the approval of unions. I have read somewhere that bedding in J was about to be tested but the unions were furious as it would have added extra work to
the FAs. Similar to hot food in C Europe. This will have to be approved by unions.
it is incredible that the AF strategy is driven by what unions approve or not. I mean for SH flights and in Business Class, the current service can take 20min max. It is too much to ask the FAs to put dishes in the oven and extend the service time by an extra 10 or 20 minutes especially on flights longer than 2h?
You’ve summarised one of France’s structural competitive disadvantages. Unions who are in a permanent state of « en colère » against something, and whose role is not to be a grown up negotiating partner to employers in finding win-win-outcomes that have an overall benefit in mind but to maximise laziness and protection against sanctions for underperformance. I remember a few years ago watching the head of the German union federation commenting on the economic impact of the 2008 financial crisis, and the French CGT leader doing the same a few hours later on French TV. Background: the German chap has a degree in political science from Berlin University, the French started as a mechanic at the age of 15 at SNCF. Abilty to understand a journalist’s question and to give a reflected answer with vocabulary and syntax that goes beyond that of a 12 year old: the German did that better. Ability to bellow in repetition the same phrases and slogans in response to whatever question was asked: clearly the French leader was better at that. Understanding the economic and societal complexity and potential implications: the German union leader certainly had a biased interpretation, but he understood the situation. The French was just pathetic. The German union leader sat there with a clean suit and tie, the French guy looked as if he had just come back from gardening and needed a shower and a fresh shirt. You can now guess which one is a more effective negotiatior and being taken more seriously by his counterparts, and which one manages to achieve change without burning the country down. German unions have become quite a bit more radical and likelihood to strike has gone up over the years. But still they play a necessary role and make constructive suggestions and are ready to compromise, whereas those French unionists are just totally toxic in their mindset and destructive in their positions.
So I am afraid you are right, we cannot French unions to be understanding of a company strategy that has customers or the company‘s product attractiveness in mind. I sometimes even think that many AF employees would be ready to go the extra mile, but there are a few hard core non-sayers to anything that smacks of making actual efforts.