Air France execs' clothes torn off by protesters

PERFIDY!

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Police have circulated a sketch of the ringleader, who was distributing some sort of concoction prior to the event:

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Oh, I read this, but I never read the part about the longer hours for pilots. So, somehow, instead of hiring more pilots, the solution is to lie off 3000 jobs???

And is kind of telling how 99% of the reactions I see are more like ā€œfuck them greedy bastardsā€ than any empathy for the assaulted execs. Or maybe I dont hang in the right circles anymore. But really, I would like to know if there is a change in public perception, because, say, my parents would surely react to that as ā€œthats awful, those evil union types, doing thisā€. While me and almost everybody else I know gets, at most, a ā€œI dont agree with the method butā€¦ā€ with ā€œserves them rightā€ unspoken.

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Itā€™s about power really, do the pilots actually have any leverage besides this instance where they can fuck up a few high ranking executives with all the power?

At least thatā€™s what makes sense to me. It looks like the pilots are getting a raw deal, and the execs are using their power to try and make pilotsā€™ conditions worse. That pretty clearly outlines a good guy (the working professional) and a bad guy (the dudes who donā€™t really do anything except enjoy being paid money).

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Last year, Air Franceā€™s CEO had a total pay of ā‚¬645,000. These pilots are getting about ā‚¬71,360 according to a few sources via google.

Does the CEO really do 10 times as much/more valuable work than the highly educated and qualified people who fly planes every day under immense risk and stress that the CEO would never have to experience?

Iā€™m betting that CEO has never come close to the amount of pressure of literally hundreds of peopleā€™s very lives being in his hands. Literal lives. And yet the executive board has the gall to consider the pilots ā€œtoo expensiveā€? Why not start cutting into the bossā€™s cushy do-nothing salary?

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in the UK, you have Corbyn that we likeā€¦ could that be the begining of a romance ? ;o)

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Frangleterre? Ha!

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Let the Games Begin!

And itā€™s only one order of magnitude - not much for CEO standards.

Lufthansa (afaik the best paid pilots in Europe):
CEO: ā‚¬2.07 M
pilots: ā‚¬120-193 k (plus allowance)

United Airlines (worldā€™s largest airline):
CEO: $11.3 M
pilots: $190 k

[based on a few Google hits, probably not very exact]

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Hold on a second though. Letā€™s have perspective on Executive compensation vs Associate compensation. And compare apples to apples. Air France is a major airline/corporation. It seems to me first off that if the CEO is making ~$750,000 USD thatā€™s fairly low compared to other major corporations where CEOā€™s are making upwards of $10-15 mil.

Additionally, if he is making 10x the top earners of the associate/laborer base which I assume would be the airlines pilotsā€¦well, again, thatā€™s a more reasonable projection between top earners and top executives.

Lookā€¦some times layoffs happen. Companies need to shift focus and expenses elsewhere. I am not saying the CEO of Air France is Ghandi hereā€¦but does he deserve to be assaulted?

Only 10 times?

America will show you how itā€™s doneā€¦

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Maybe the fact that the french citizens are willing to do this is why their top earners arenā€™t running the country like despots. Iā€™m sure it was an awful experience and I could imagine those executives fearing for their lives while it was happening, but in the end they lost an expensive suit that they can afford to replace. Maybe thatā€™s a fair price to pay.

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well the pilots do have the leverage of crashing more frequently due to overwork. but thatā€™s not really worth a lot.

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Best chippendales show ever!

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Considering that it sounds like a blackmail tactic (either the pilots work more hours or I fire 3000 employess) I think yes, they deserve scorn and worse. Maybe not physical assault, but frankly, if those 2 execs (who are not the CEO) feared for their lives, 3000 unemployed people in this current enviroment fear for their lives too.

And well, if things in France dont look as dystopic from the point of view of executive vs worker income, is because their unions are not yet the kind of castrated lap-dog of the companies that is so common elsewhere.

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perhaps thatā€™s very trueā€¦not so much in ā€œa fair priceā€ because letā€™s be clearā€¦being assaulted is never a fair thing nor justified. But fair in that at least they can replace the suit. They were not physically harmed.

Look, Iā€™m not going to disagree with you about being assaulted. Itā€™s never okay. But strangely it happens to a lot of people every day and very few people care about that. I donā€™t find myself being motivated to care especially for crimes that target well-off people.

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Croissants were actually invented in Austria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croissant

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They still should have pelted them with Croissants!

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