Air France-KLM yesterday unveiled a revamped restructuring plan that could lead to 2,900 job losses after pilots for the struggling airline refused to accept a proposal to work longer hours.
Four unions called a strike to coincide with the launch of the plan at a central committee meeting early yesterday, which was interrupted when several hundred workers stormed into the headquarters in Roissy, just outside Paris.
Chief executive Frederic Gagey made a hasty exit, according to two members of the committee, and the meeting was expected to resume a few hours later.
Photo: Reuters
Air France said before the strike that it did not know how many people were taking part, but insisted all flights would go ahead albeit with “some delays,” notably at check-in.
Talks with pilots on an initial restructuring plan broke down last week, prompting management to lay out an “alternative” version revolving around the job cuts — some compulsory, which would be a first for the carrier.
The airline is struggling in the teeth of fierce competition from global rivals and had sought to win pilots’ agreement to fly 100 more hours annually for the same salary, a request rejected as an effective pay cut.
Unions on Friday last week blasted management for pressing ahead with a revised plan after carrying out a “parody” of negotiations.
However, the French government, which owns a 17.6 percent stake, has criticized the pilots, with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls denouncing the “hardline” attitude of pilots.
The dialogue has been “blocked by a minority based on a purely individual concerns,” French Minister of Finance Michel Sapin said on Sunday.
The airline says its alternative plan is designed “to guarantee the economic objectives and the company’s future” by sharpening its competitive edge against main European rivals Lufthansa and British Airways-Iberia.
It includes measures such as a 10 percent reduction of long-haul flights, a delay in its orders for Boeing 787s and reducing its headcount.
Union members at yesterday’s meeting confirmed the plan includes the possibility of firing 300 pilots, 700 air hostesses and stewards, and 1,900 ground staff.
A board source last week indicated the 2,900 figure had been presented as an estimate of overstaffing in 2017 for the airline, which is Europe’s largest in terms of traffic and employs 52,000 people.
The company already shed 5,500 posts via voluntary departures between 2012 and last year as it battled competition from low-cost carriers and Gulf airlines.
Air France, which merged with Netherlands-based KLM in 2004, is now expected to retire 14 long-haul planes and reduce flights as it seeks to cut costs over two years by 1.8 billion euros (US$2.03 billion).
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”