Aéroports de Paris: between salary and employment, you will have to choose (Le Parisien.fr)

Keep your job or take a pay cut? This is essentially what the management of Aéroports de Paris (ADP) offers to its 6400 employees. Faced with an unprecedented crisis in the air because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company which notably manages the Paris airports of Roissy (Seine-et-Marne) and Orly (Val-de-Marne) has embarked on a vast savings plan .

After 160 hours of work over five months, management and unions reached an agreement in December on a collective contractual break (RCC) which opens the door to 1150 voluntary departures, 700 of which will not be replaced. But management wanted to go further by signing a collective performance agreement (APC) with the social partners. The unions said no. It must be said that the APC imposed on employees a reduction in remuneration. In exchange, management agreed not to make any redundancies for three years. “Given the situation in the air sector, it was a good commitment,” says ADP.

An amendment to the employment contract sent to employees

Finally, on January 21, during the first social and economic committee (CSE) of the year, the management of the company decided to apply these measures unilaterally, as authorized by law. A real shock for this former public company still 50,6% owned by the state.

Concretely, if the project succeeds despite the legal recourse that the unions should file, the employees will receive in the coming months an amendment to their employment contract to record this reduction. If the employee refuses to sign it, the law authorizes the employer to dismiss him. The Labor Code even obliges the company to launch a job protection plan (PSE) if more than nine employees oppose this endorsement. The door is open to a massive layoff plan, say the unions. “It's job blackmail, insists Véronique Pigueron, president of the CFE-CGC, majority union at ADP. It's either you agree to earn less, or you walk out the door. »

8% maximum drop depending on management

A decision all the more unacceptable for the unions that they have made their calculations: “It is between -10% and -15% on the pay slip, assures Daniel Bertone, general secretary of the CGT ADP. We have accepted the collective contractual termination which will save 30 million euros in 2021 then 60 million in 2022. But the management still wants more. »

Calculations disputed by Aéroports de Paris which estimates the drop in remuneration around 4% on average with a maximum of 8%. “There are safeguards, repeats the company. If for some employees the drop exceeds 8%, they can discuss it with the HRD to correct things. And we are committed to ensuring that this reduction does not lead to remuneration below 1850 euros gross per month”.

These wage cuts will impact mileage allowances – which can reach 315 euros per month for 1900 employees – but also the 13^e and 14^e month. “But we don't touch base salary, seniority or family benefits, lists management. Given the context, it is measured and balanced. Especially since if there is to be a PSE, the first layoffs will only take place in 2022. And they will all be replaced”.

Privatization “is still in the cards”

Not enough to calm the concerns of the unions. “In what the management imposes there is no review clause, annoys Laurent Garssine, secretary general Unsa Sapap. These reductions are for life. We have the unpleasant impression that our management is taking advantage of an economic crisis to carry out structural reforms”. An analysis that an internal source does not disavow. “To overcome the crisis and pay for an investment in India ( Editor's note: the GMR group which manages 7 airports including that of New Delhi ), they borrowed 4 billion euros which are conditional on cost savings of around 200 million, confides this well-placed observer. And then they want to make the bride more beautiful. The privatization of ADP, even if it is postponed because of the Covid, is still in the boxes. »