Air Austral employees demonstrate against a possible “forced marriage” with the airline Corsair. Several elected officials joined them in front of the prefecture of Saint-Denis, including the president of the Region, Huguette Bello.
An inter-union SNPL-ALPA, CFDT, UNSA, SNPNS-FO called on Air Austral employees to mobilize. This Sunday, November 14, they gathered in front of the prefecture to protest against a “forced” rapprochement with the airline Corsair.
The demonstrators are supported by various local political figures, including the President of the Region, Huguette Bello, the deputies of La Réunion Karine Lebon, Jean-Luc Poudroux and Philippe Naillet, or the regional opposition adviser Jean-Jacques Morel.
Air Austral event in Saint-Denis prefecture
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Fears for employment and activity
The mobilized employees deplore the absence of a meeting or discussion in this case, and want to obtain guarantees from the State. They fear that a “forced marriage” will be imposed on them, and that they wish to see maintained the scope of employment and activity, as well as the role and societal anchoring of Air Austral within Reunion Island, explains Frédéric Benard, CFDT union representative at Air Austral.
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If they don’t say they are against a joint venture, they want to get guarantees, to be heard and to be present around the negotiating table. They want to express all their fears to the prefect of Reunion, the highest local representative of the State. They therefore requested an interview with Jacques Billant.
Watch the report from Réunion la 1ère:
Air Austral: unions say no to “forced marriage” with Corsair
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An audience to discuss in the coming days
The representatives of Air Austral employees therefore met with the prefect and gave him a letter to express their fears to him. According to them, ” many elements were known, at least not foreign to the knowledge of the prefect “.
Jacques Billant assured them that he would be able to set up an audience in the coming days so as to be able to discuss the different scenarios that the State is studying today in the support of the Air Austral company and its future. , explained Vivien Rousseau, president of the Air Austral section of the national union of airline pilots, at the end of this meeting.
Employee representatives recalled that “ the schedule was pretty tight “, since from next week certain economic players of the future” commercial entity “should be present on the island. The unions also requested a hearing with the Minister of Overseas, Sébastien Lecornu, who must he will also come to Reunion in the next few days.
Do not “get swallowed”
Faced with the Covid crisis, the two airlines, Air Austral and Corsair, had decided to start discussions to conclude a commercial cooperation agreement last August. Since then, the temptation of a merger seems to have taken hold.
Air Austral employees now fear that Corsair will ” swallow them “. They have the feeling that the interests of the Antilleans are privileged. Corsair is a French airline, owned since the end of 2020 by a consortium of overseas investors, including a Guadeloupe.
In a letter addressed to the prefect of Reunion, to deputies and senators, to regional and general advisers, to mayors, or to economic players and to Reunion Islanders, Air Austral employees “and their families” assert their position.
They wonder in particular whether Air Austral has ” had to borrow from banks while Air France and Corsair received substantial and gracious aid from the State “. And to add:” the State is preparing to dry up Air Austral by imposing a forced marriage on it, but we have left the colonies “.
Air Austral / Corsair merger Mobilization of Air Austral employees
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A symbol of Reunion
From this merger, Air Austral employees fear losing their ” real heritage “, their “ identity ” and their ” know how“, in what he considers to be a forced merger, a” forced marriage “with Corsair.
“Just like our pitons and ramparts, the Fournaise, the Paille en queue, the rougail sausage, the Victoria pineapple, the margouillat, the sleepy Kréol, the rum cart, the dodo,… Air Austral is a symbol of Reunion Island. to preserve. “
They believe that Air Austral participates in the influence of France in the Indian Ocean, and recall that lines have been opened to Australia, Thailand, China, India, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mayotte , Rodrigues and Africa. The regional airline directly supports nearly 900 employees and their families and creates more than 3,000 indirect jobs.
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