They believed to have successfully capture attention from local governmental leaders and spokespersons to tackle negotiations. They did, although in the end, they had to make do with a bailiff who merely summoned them to appear in court quite beyond legal working time on the very same day. The movement’s delegates and other leaders have been auditioned late in the evening of Thursday August 28th in court in Anosy. The trial quickly came to a conclusion: the court ordered the employees to relinquish the access to the company’s facilities and materials then recover their respective posts. One complete staff was swiftly ordered to resume working on the spot for the rest of the night. The airline company and the court actually engaged in a race against the clock, since one of Air France’s jumbo jets was already on its way to Antananarivo city. The aircraft landed without any incident early in the next morning at 02:00 a.m. local time, welcomed by the standard and unaltered series of ground operations. It took off safely again at 07:00 a.m. as expected in its flight plan.
The attendance of a squad from the Emmo Reg security forces regiment did not produce the expected destabilizing effect from supposedly conclusive deterrence over incredibly and unusually non violent strikers. “We are about a hundred here. All of Air Madagascar’s employees are with us “, argued an employee while actively taking part into a” sit-in”. “We do not strike; only those who are allowed in here did come in here “. Access to the industrial area is now prohibited. The Transportation minister’ strategy basically consists in brokering the best possible settlement while keeping standard services running. Resumption of services at the airport is nowhere near to be secured as long the union keeps sticking to its stand with the very same grim determination. “There is no way we give in as long as our company is left in the B league! On the contrary, the movement is going to intensify” protested the trade union’s leader Solo Andriantseheno. Following this judicial call to order, the employees complied, gave in and prepare their claim for the next round.