Oct. 05--PARIS -- Air France managers had a less-than-gracious exit from an executive meeting Monday as the shirts were literally torn from their backs by demonstrators protesting the carrier's plans to cut some 2,900 jobs.
Pierre Plissonnier and Xavier Broseta were both shown scrambling over fences mobbed by angry crowds in television images and photographs taken at a demonstration outside an executive committee meeting Monday morning.
Air France condemned the violence, saying in a statement that it would submit a formal aggravated assault complaint against individuals who turned the protest violent.
"These acts of violence were perpetrated by particularly aggressive isolated individuals, during an otherwise peaceful demonstration by striking staff," the carrier said in a statement. It added that managers would continue to pursue talks with union representatives.
The protest was organized by Air France employees concerned about downsizing plans after talks broke down between management and labour unions last week.
"Facing the impossibility of reaching an agreement to implement the productivity measures within Air France in order to restore long-term profitability, the board members consider it essential to introduce an alternative plan," the Air France-KLM board had said in a statement. Air France merged with KLM in 2004.
On Monday afternoon, Air France executives said they had decided on a restructuring plan that would include an elimination of 2,900 posts -- including 300 pilots, 900 cabin crew and 1,700 ground staff.
Air France chief executive Frederic Gagey added that the carrier would also reduce its long-haul flights by 10 per cent by 2017, close five of its routes and cancel 35 weekly flights. He said that the reductions would mostly be concentrated in Asia and the Middle East, where airline losses are at their highest.
Gagey also said that the Air France fleet would also be downsized, and the company would not replace Airbus A340 aircraft with Boeing 787s as had been planned.
Air France, which is 17.58 per cent owned by the French government, has been seeking to boost its competitive edge with other air carriers.
___
(c)2015 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)
Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
