Sacked Jet employees stage protest

Mumbai : The spot outside the Chakala factory of a bottled water manufacturing company is a popular spot for agitations, but the crowds on Wednesday were not the usual suspects. Instead of angry political activists, one saw scores of well groomed men and women in uniforms: employees of Jet Airways, the country’s largest private airline, taking to the streets in protest against their termination.
“I don’t come from a super rich family. I come for an extremely middle-class family and my parents were very happy when I had announced that I had become an air hostess,” said Reshma Pathan, who had been with Jet for a year.
“I come from Ahmedabad and really take pains to pay high rents and repay my loans. What will I do now?” Pathan asked.
They were from all over the country — Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bangalore, Kolkata. And what irked them the most was the way their jobs were terminated.
“Usually we receive a call six hours before our flights. So when I called the roster department when I did not receive any calls, I was told that I have been terminated as my services were not required anymore,” said Rekha Iyengar, who quit her job at Kingfisher in Bangalore to join Jet in Mumbai. “I was about to sign my probation papers in just a day or two but now it’s all gone.”
“Only last week Naresh Goyal told us that our jobs were secure and three days later even had a meeting with senior crew members who repeated the same assurance... And yesterday, when I called my roster office, they told me that my job has been terminated,” said a crew member who did not wish to be named.
What also bothers them is the fact that they had chosen aviation as their career of choice while rejecting other jobs.
15/10/08 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Categories: Jet Airways Oct 2008