Air France pilots have called off a strike that has lasted for two weeks and cost the airline hundreds of millions of euros. The strike started on 14th, September and at 10th day in strike both union and management agree to enter talks.
So what is the background of this strike?
This is due to the new strategy from air France-KLM chief executive Alexandre de Juniac. He wants to build up a new budget affiliate called Transavia Europe. However, union do not want to support his plan. During the strike, Juniac said he was prepared to put the project on hold for four months, but unions rejected that offer out of hand. Although the strike end, there are still some differences are unresolved, this means there are still some problems that union and management need to keep thinking and consulting about.
In my own idea, strikes are generally due to three reasons e.g. wages, working conditions and working hours. However this one is a special case. Because this one is because workers do not agree to the plan of managers. I think in this way the power of union is over strong, because although staff could participate in the decision making process, they are not the final decision maker. They should listen to the manager who have more knowledge about stategy. Besides, I think company could choose to use conciliation and arbitration, which are third party that could recommand a optimal solution.
This new reminds me about the teacher strike in Vancouver. Government, management and union should not just think about them self. They should sometimes firstly think about the impacts to consumers.
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