Air France: majority agreement on the voluntary departure plan-PSE

The CFE-CGC and the CFDT of the Air France company have signed the voluntary departure plan-job-saving plan agreement negotiated with management for ground staff, making it valid, AFP learned Thursday. corroborating sources.

"We have signed to allow as many people as possible to leave voluntarily and avoid the massive layoff of ground staff," said Bernard Garbiso, secretary general of CFE-CGC Air France (3rd on the ground).

The CFDT (2nd representative organization on the ground) is also a signatory, which makes the agreement "majority", confirmed its secretary general Christophe Dewatine.

"We have improved the systems for those who are voluntary at the start and relaxed the schedule of departures," he said.

3,640 positions concerned within the ground staff

Voluntary departures may take place from January 2021 to the end of June 2022. The PDV-PSE concerns 3,640 positions within the ground staff.

For flight personnel, collective contractual termination agreements (RCC) providing for voluntary departures have already been concluded.

Contacted by AFP, the management confirmed the signing of a majority agreement.

The PDV-PSE has been negotiating with four representative organizations on the ground since the announcement at the beginning of July by the management of its desire to cut 7,580 positions by the end of 2022 within the French company and its regional subsidiary Hop !.

These job cuts represent 16% of the workforce of Air France, severely affected by the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Management is counting on natural departures not replaced to reduce the identified overstaffing, but also on voluntary departures and has not ruled out forced departures in the short-haul activity, a first for a company that has never experienced PSE. 

"The text does not respond to the concerns of employees"

FO Air France, the company's leading union and number one among ground staff, refused to sign the PDV-PSE agreement.

"FO has signed all the previous agreements on support measures for PDVs, this time we could not support management in a PES," said its secretary general Christophe Malloggi.

The Air Unsa (5th) made a similar choice.

"The text does not respond to the concerns of employees of the short-haul that we represent", explains one of its delegates, who prefers to remain anonymous.

The agreement on the PDV-PSE, consulted by AFP, stipulates that "the parties intend to promote as much as possible internal reclassifications on all the positions available within Air France and the Air France group", which also includes the low-cost Transavia.

In addition, negotiations on long-term partial activity agreements (APLDs) have started for the different categories of personnel (pilots, hostesses and stewards as well as ground staff).

"We will ask that there be no redundancies throughout the duration of the reference period of the APLD", which could reach 24 months, said Mr. Dewatine.