The Air France group will cut 7,580 jobs by the end of 2022

The employees of Air France and Hop! mobilized this Friday, July 3 against the job cuts. REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes

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To "face the Covid-19 crisis which is hitting the group hard", the management of the Air France group announced this Friday, July 3, wanting to cut 7,580 jobs in the Air France company and the regional subsidiary Hop! by the end of 2022.

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At the end of a day of meetings with staff representatives, the management of the Air France group indicated in a press release that it wanted to cut 6,560 jobs out of 41,000 full-time equivalent permanent contracts with Air France and 1,020 2,420 positions at its regional subsidiary Hop !.

These job cuts represent 16% of Air France's workforce and 40% of Hop !. Management relies on non-replaced natural departures (more than 3,500 at Air France, 200 at Hop!) To reduce the overstaffing identified and on “  departure arrangements favoring voluntary measures, end-of-career development and professional and geographic mobility  ”.

For three months, Air France's activity and turnover fell by 95%, and at the height of the crisis, the company lost 15 million euros per day  ", underlines the group, which anticipates a " very slow  " recovery  . He explains that he wants to start a “  transformation (which) rests mainly on the change of model of his domestic activity, the reorganization of his support functions and the continued reduction of his external and internal costs  ”.

A few hours before the announcements, when the figures had already leaked, employees mobilized on several sites to protest. At the company's headquarters in Roissy, there were around a hundred pilots, mechanics and maintenance workers, expressing their anger at this “unbearable” restructuring plan. Especially since it comes a few weeks after the announcement of the 7 billion euros contributed by the State to support the company.

“  We are using public money to destroy jobs. It's completely mind blowing. There would have been other solutions to allow us to bounce back: renationalise the company, share the work  ”, denounces Jérôme Beaurain, of the SUD Aérien union. The plan provided by the management of Air France should also have very significant repercussions on the company's subcontractors, such as companies specializing in meal trays or aircraft cleaning.

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