Lecornu

Meetings in ministerial offices are stacking up for the interunion of cabin crew members (PNC). Each time, they leave a sense of things unfinished for the profession’s representatives.

The first one took place with Philippe Tabarot, nearly two weeks ago, as we disclosed to you.

The Minister of Transport acknowledged the particularities of the PNC regarding the employment-retirement accrual reform (CER) and stated that he would support, with the Prime Minister, the interunion’s proposal to exclude this group from the text.

Earlier this week, it was the turn of the Ministry of Labor to receive the representatives.

The technical and legal advisers of Jean-Pierre Farandou recognized that the “cabin crew are the great forgotten ones of this reform” and that their “demands are legitimate given the specifics” of their professions and of the CRPN.

If the union flyer drafted after this meeting aims to be positive, it also reveals shortcomings in the ministry’s commitment to resolve the issue.

A massive strike, affecting all companies, is still not to be ruled out, even though an ultimatum has been given to Sébastien Lecornu.

To read: easyJet France: anger is mounting, a strike looming in August?

Indeed, according to the flyer, the ministerial team has not been able to offer a firm solution to the problem raised by the interunion.

For reference, the reform, which will come into force on January 1, 2027, provides that all earnings, including unemployment benefits, could be deducted from the CRPN pension. Yet the CRPN is a private and mandatory retirement fund.

The unions fear that the State will seize the reserves and, more broadly, that “unpaid CRPN pensions” would go to “fuel the public accounts.”

For now, this would amount to little more than “patchwork,” in the words of the various unions who attended the meeting, which was proposed without removing the PNC from the reform text.

Following the meeting with the Ministry of Labor, a new letter was sent to Sébastien Lecornu, after the July 8 letter that remained unanswered.

In addition to recalling the recent context, with the three visits to ministerial offices, the letter explains that these meetings have allowed to confirm “that applying this reform to cabin crew constitutes an unanticipated side effect, arising from the lack of consultation and impact assessment on the specificities of air transport.”

The decision on this possible exclusion of PNC now rests with the Prime Minister. And the answer should not be delayed.

“The不可-negotiable deadlines tied to the settlement of CRPN pensions require a solution to be decided by July 31, 2026.

Otherwise, a wave of early departures cannot be prevented, posing a risk of a major industrial accident in French air transport, with particularly heavy operational, economic, and social consequences“, the communication states.

If by the end of the month no serious response is provided to the unions’ demands, France could face a nationally significant social movement.

The interunion simply wants the complete exclusion of cabin crew from the new reform scheme and does not want a mere alternative solution designed to limit its impact.

They also want to participate in the legislative work planned within the framework of the 2027 Social Security financing bill, since that is where the reform is positioned.

“In the absence of a written commitment before July 31, 2026, or if the commitments made should not be respected during the drafting of the bill in the autumn, our organizations will take responsibility.

They will then undertake the necessary steps to organize nationwide, large-scale strikes“, the letter concludes, also signed by the SNPL.

The countdown has begun…