Will Fraser:
The FAA, as an administrative enforcement body, has the power to fix things as we speak ... If the Unions get out of Bed with management and rub their eyes a bit...
We're getting into US-related specifics, and as this is an AF topic, we're probably taking our eyes off the ball here. In answer to your post, the problem is not that unions are in bed with management - the problem is that the FAA was set up with an almost schizophrenic charter whereby it has to regulate the industry but at the same time "promote" it. So you have a situation where the NTSB makes recommendations, but if airline management thinks the recommendations are too onerous financially, they get the airline lobby to petition the FAA against enforcing those recommendations.
Back to the topic at hand - if the consolidation of the various French state-owned airlines into AF have caused the various impasses that Me Myself describes, and safety is being adversely affected as a result, then serious questions need to be asked within the unions and airline management, and a new accommodation must be reached.