Even for PPRuNe this thread seems to be heavily weighed towards strong opinions, xenophobia and minimal facts. I can't say that I have too many facts myself, but the level of "we all know" or "its obvious" is quite telling. It is more telling when we even have, apparently, got a few French nationals attacking their own country but also giving little evidence beyond "believe me, this is the way it is".
An attempt at impartiality might suggest the follow question - and it is only a question. Could it be that as a subsidiary of AF that City Jet was actually in compliance with the law, or at least had not been identified as failing to comply? (The issue is not the pilots' contracts as such.... but then getting that point would require attempting to understand what is actually going on here).
I suppose I am likely to be told that the answer is obvious and that I am a complete nitwit because I don't see the "realities"?
But my realities go along the same line as Fropilot. They suggest to me that there is a lot of guff talked about salaries and conditions in companies like AF.