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Air France pilots reject offer, strike continues

The strike has cost the airline up to $25 million per day.

By Ed Adamczyk
Air France pilots entered the second week of their strike. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Air France pilots entered the second week of their strike. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

PARIS, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Air France pilots enter their second week on strike after what the company called its last offer was rejected.

The pilots' union, the National Syndicate of Airline Pilots (SNPL), went on strike after the parent company of Air France, Air France-KLM, announced a cost-cutting program that would transfer operations in Europe to its low-cost airline, Transavia. The union said the move would outsource jobs to countries with lower taxes and less expensive labor.

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Air France CEO Alexandre de Juniac said the changes would be suspended until the end of the year, but the union called the proposal a "smokescreen" that offered no more guarantees than earlier offers.

The union said in a statement Sunday, "Talks have reached a complete impasse. Management is playing for time, waiting for the movement to weaken."

The strike has cost Air France up to $25 million per day, and has resulted in the cancellation of about half the airlines' flights. Air France said 41 percent of its flights would take off Monday.

French Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said Air France's future is at stake in the negotiations, telling France Info radio: "There must be a positive approach in this situation, otherwise I think that it's the fate of the company that could be at stake."

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