Air France Immigrant Expulsions Protest
Thursday July 12, 12:29 pm ET
Workers Urge Air France Chiefs to Stop Expelling Immigrants
PARIS (AP) -- Airline unions urged Air France on Thursday to stop transporting expelled illegal immigrants on its flights, saying the practice upsets flight attendants and passengers and may hurt business at France's flagship carrier.
ADVERTISEMENT
Workers for five unions were presenting their demands at the Air France-KLM annual shareholders' meeting in Paris.
For years unions have urged the airline to halt the transportation of expelled immigrants, but the demand attracted extra attention this year because of President Nicolas Sarkozy's determination to step up expulsions as part of his tougher policies on immigration.
Every year, thousands of illegal immigrants are put aboard Air France flights and sent to their homelands, sometimes handcuffed and escorted by police. On occasions, they resist and must be forcibly restrained.
Air France unions CGT, CFDT, SUD, ALTER and SPAF voted Tuesday to ask the company to refuse to transport expelled immigrants.
In response, the company said in a statement Wednesday that it had no plans to reconsider expulsions "executed by the Interior Ministry on the basis of administrative or judicial decisions."
Still, the company noted that crew can refuse to allow a passenger aboard who is "believed to pose a threat to the safety of the flight."
In the first five months of 2007, 6,000 illegal immigrants were expelled by air, 2,200 of them under police escort, according to the newly created Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-development.
Gilles Nicoli, general secretary of CFDT-Air France, said airplane staff are suffering "more and more trauma from the violence that people sent across the border are subjected to."
"This has a negative image for the company," Nicoli said on France-Info radio.
Sarkozy has said he wants to expel 25,000 illegal immigrants this year, up from 24,000 in 2006. Sarkozy toughened immigration rules as interior minister before he became president this spring. |
