Paris (AFP)
Political opposition rose to the niche on Wednesday to denounce the thousands of job cuts already announced at Airbus or which will soon be at Air France, some even asking the government to prevent them.
Prohibiting layoffs at Airbus, "it's not at all unrealistic, it's your taxes that finance layoffs, do you find that logical?", Indignant the national secretary of EELV Julien Bayou on France Inter.
According to him, "the challenge is not to save shareholders but to save jobs, and a strategic state is the one that prepares these sectors for ecological transition".
"We take advantage of the very punctual situation to + degrease + and I hope that the State will have more than its say to say + no +. A social plan of such importance is a huge bloodletting, it is scandalous ", lamented on Public Senate the leader of the socialist senators Patrick Kanner.
The plan is "unacceptable in the state", added the LR president of the Pays de la Loire region Christelle Morance, denouncing "a blow" for the region "which is the second job pool of the group (6.500 employees)".
Airbus announced Tuesday the elimination of about 15,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce, including a third in France, and does not rule out layoffs to deal with the "unprecedented crisis" suffered by the air transport sector struck down by the Covid-19, a plan immediately deemed "excessive" by the French government.
The state aid measures should make it possible to "save" 2,000 jobs, out of the 5,000 positions that Airbus intends to cut in France, Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Wednesday.
"5000 job cuts at Airbus but the Minister of Transport will not lift a finger. For LREM, the state's regulatory capacity is limited to non-binding" calls ": dear big bosses, be nice, do not fire too much. We see the result ... ", quipped Twitter LFI MEP Manon Aubry.
The Air France group plans to cut more than 7,500 jobs by the end of 2022 as part of its new strategy, including around 6,500 within the French airline and over 1,000 within the regional airline Hop !, learned on Tuesday AFP from union sources.
The direction must present Friday to the trade union organizations the consequences on the employment of its "plan of reconstruction", which envisages a frank cut in the internal connections.
"It is an act of weakness of the government which should have done much more and require that employment be maintained in return for (significant) public aid" brought to Air France, said on Europe 1 the vice-president of RN Jordan Bardella.
The health and economic crisis "should not be used as a pretext for certain large groups to cut their workforce and apply long-term plans taking advantage of the windfall effect," said the far-right leader also.
"Intolerable, unacceptable to have a cascade of social plans that fall every day while the government is putting 460 billion euros of public commitment", denounced on Twitter the boss of the PCF Fabien Roussel.
© 2020 AFP