Evain was the face of the labor disputes that prompted 15
days of strikes by 10 unions of pilots, cabin crew and ground personnel, as
well as widespread disruption in 2018. As head of SNLP, the union of which a
majority of Air France pilots are members, Evain's hard-line approach likely
drew out the dispute.
While most unions demanded a 6 percent pay increase, he
demanded 10 percent. Between February and September 2018, the strikes slashed
€335 million from Air France-KLM's income. Evain was a vocal critic of
Jean-Marc Janaillac, who as Air France-KLM CEO had proposed to increase wages
by 7 percent over four years and who, according to French newspaper La Figaro,
privately blamed Evain for the failure to win majority support in a staff
referendum. Janaillac subsequently resigned, in May, and shares fell by more
than 14 percent, their steepest single-day drop in more than a decade,
according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Janaillac's replacement, Ben Smith, then negotiated a 2
percent pay increase, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2018, and another 2 percent
increase effective Jan 1, 2019. Evain's SNPL and the flight attendants' union
each rejected the deal, but the remaining unions, representing 76.4 percent of
the airline's staff, signed the deal.
Early December brought a rebuke to Evain's
approach from Air France pilots, as SNPL voted not to re-elect him. The new
union representatives have elected Transavia captain Guillaume Gestas as
president, and on Dec. 12, Air France promoted Anne Rigail to CEO, effective
Dec. 17. Now, negotiations between Air France and the pilots and flight
attendants continue, likely to a more agreeable conclusion.