We're only trying to get justice: Capt. Sam Thomas

Mumbai: The pilot in the eye of the Jet Airways management-union flare-up on Wednesday told TOI that by sacking 10 commanders the airline was trying to acripple the senior brigade of pilots who have been spearheading the National Aviators Guild (NAG), the union seeking to represent almost 90% of the airline's Indian pilots.
Captain Sam Thomas, the NAG general secretary, was sacked by the airline on July 31 and was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference. "This seems to be a move to hit the top workers, so that the rest buckle under,'' he said. The three pilots sacked on Tuesday and the five sacked on Wednesday are all senior commanders who, like Thomas and Capt D Balaraman, held important positions in NAG. Balaraman was sacked along with Thomas. One of the terminated commanders is also the president of Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP).
"NAG will respond to the Bombay High Court's notice for an affidavit in response to Jet Airways plea, but the pilots on sick leave don't have to respond,'' he said. "It is an individual's decision to report sick.''
"It is Naresh Goyal's airline. He can choose to shut it or run it. We are only trying to get justice for the commanders who have been terminated without reason,'' Thomas said.
"When the airlines threatened a nationwide strike to get their demands, it was all constitutional. Now when we are demanding the most obvious right, the management is quick to deny it and strict action is being taken,'' he added.
10/09/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Categories: Jet Airways Sep 2009