TOULOUSE (FRANCE) – Airbus employees undertook a brief strike on Wednesday to protest against plans to slash up to 15,000 jobs because of the coronavirus crisis. The slowdown has stripped demand for jets as airlines are reeling from the plunge in tourism and business travel.
According to unions, as many as 8,000 workers were slated to join the protest scheduled to last 1.5 hours in Toulouse, where they are preparing to march alongside one of the runways at Toulouse-Blagnac airport that overlooks the Airbus headquarters.
“Airbus has a real responsibility to get to grips with its restructuring which is excessive and gives a terrible example to suppliers,” said Jean-Francois Knepper of the Force Ouvriere union.
Unions have called a wider day of strike in French plants on Thursday.
Last week, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said it was facing the “gravest crisis this industry has ever experienced” and was committed to limiting the social impact of its reorganisation.
The company said one-third of the 15,000 jobs to be slashed will be in France and they include include 3,378 in Toulouse where it assembles wide-body jets and A320s.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
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