Air France freight personnel voted Friday to end their 3-week-old strike, signaling the end of one of the most serious labor conflicts in France in recent years and paving the way for a new restructuring plan for the ailing company.
The striking workers, who first walked off the job Oct. 12, decided to end their action five days after the government withdrew a re-struc-tur-ing plan that called for the elimination of 4,000 jobs next year and cuts in pay differential for holiday and night work.The freight personnel at Orly and Charles de Gaulle Airports outside Paris were joined last week by other Air France employees, seriously disrupting air traffic in France and leading to the resignation of company president Bernard Attali.
Air France flights were gradually being put back into service Friday, but the company said it would take another week before the airline could resume normal operations.
A company spokesman said many planes had to be repatriated from the four corners of the world and that all equipment had to be verified, a situation that would cause additional delays in resuming normal service. Air France was able to assure only about 30 flights Friday instead of the usual 400.
The freight personnel, who proved to be the most radical in the recent conflict, decided to end their action after meeting Friday with the new Air France president.