Implementation: Playing on Trust

At the end of 1993, Air France, a flag-carrier of long standing and the pride of a whole country, marked by a history made up of daily exploits, literally exploded. Not only was the company producing record losses, the like of which, until then, had never been seen in the business, but the fall in unit revenues was picking up speed dramatically.1 During the month of November, there started to appear the signs of social unrest which, little by little, spread like an oil stain and rapidly transformed themselves into an occupation without concessions of the runways on the capital’s two main airports, thus causing a complete paralysis of traffic. One can measure the extent of the malaise through such actions, because attacking the work tool, particularly over a long period, was not in the traditions of this business. At the same time, the conflicts grew more severe to the point where, in places, they led to physical violence between managers and employees. There was great confusion, the unions were sometimes left behind and, after many tergiversations, the public authorities, giving way to all kinds of pressures, decided to get rid of the company’s President who had nonetheless fought tooth and nail to try to save what was saveable. This departure was supposed to cause a shock and thus unblock the situation.