Air France to join mass strike on 29
Hundreds of thousands of people prepare to protest over measures announced in reaction to the financial crisis.
AIR France unions have called for employees to join mass strikes due to take place on January 29.
A statement released last night by seven unions including the two biggest ones, the CFDT and CGT, called for employees to demand greater protection for jobs and pay in the face of the current economic crisis.
The statement said: "While the management prepares to restructure, freeze pay and make discussions more difficult, our unions are coming together to join the national strike on January 29."
Unions say employees, jobseekers and the retired are the greatest victims of a crisis for which they are not responsible.
The main eight unions met earlier in the month to discussion action for January 29. They said to overcome the economic crisis "requires urgent measures favouring employment, salary and integrated policies within an economic relaunch policy."
They have called for the relatively slow period of activity caused by the crisis to be used to train staff and for the government to renounce the 30,000 civil service job cuts planned for 2009.
Unions have called for public and private sector workers, the unemployed and the retired to take part in a strike “on a mass scale.”
January 29 will be the first time a strike across different professions has been held since May 22 last year when between 300,000 and 700,000 people took to the streets.
Photo: Philippe Noret - AirTeamimages
