Jet Airways deadlock continues, all flights cancelled

By ANI
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

jet-airwaysNEW DELHI - Jet Airways flights were cancelled for a second consecutive day on Wednesday following a row between the airline management and its pilots over the sacking of two of their senior colleagues.

The management has sacked five more pilots, bringing the total number of those fired to ten. owever, the striking pilots are seeking a compromise formula, as a meeting will be held between them and Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal.

Earlier, Goyal said inconvenienced passengers were being accommodated on other foreign and domestic airlines in the country.

“We are trying our best, we are transferring passengers to a lot of domestic carriers in India, and lot of foreign airlines in India so that we minimise the inconvenience to customers… We are willing to sit with them (pilots) and to follow certain guidelines and rules and not create inconvenience to customers and passengers,” Goyal told TIMES NOW.

Jet Airways had also sought the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) intervention to resolve the crisis. Last month, Jet Airways had terminated the services of two of its senior most pilots, saying their services were not required after both formed a trade union body within the company.

A conciliatory meeting was called on August 31 between the Jet Airways management and the union, which claims to have representation of over 650 pilots. Jet Airways has 1000 pilots on its rolls.

Meanwhile, Air India has come to the rescue of the Indian cricket team scheduled to go to Colombo today by a Jet Airways flight for the tri-nation one-day series.

Air India will fly a special plane to carry the Indian cricket team to Colombo. The plane will take off from Chennai and go to Bangalore to take Indian captain M S Dhoni and leg spinner Harbhajan Singh before finally leaving for Colombo. (ANI)
Filed under: Featured Article, India

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Kapil
September 9, 2009: 5:06 am

The most apparent reason being reported for this strike is “In support of two pilots sacked a couple of months ago for joining a guild wich is tantamount to a union”.
BACKGROUND :
1. Jet airways themselves (along with Kingfisher), as major carrier(S) had threatened strike just last month, reportedly since government was not going “soft” on their demands for a sector as whole. JET COULD NOT GET ITS WAY WITH THE GOVT OF INDIA.
2. Few months back, on the issue of firing of hundreds of airhostesses, stewards, ground staff, Jet Air chairman Naresh Goyal had been quoted saying in media that “he thinks of these young staffers as good as his own kids (daughter)” and he was not immediately “aware” of the decision taken by Jet’s senior management to sack them. he kind of apologized and reinstated these employees. JET LEARNT A LESSON “HOW TO ADDRESS THINGS IN FUTURE”
3. 2 SENIORMOST Pilots formed a Guild / perceived union. WERE THESE 2 GENTELMEN NAIVE OR even FOOLISH to just be a 2 member union TRYING to represent ALL JET PILOTS or may be desirably all Indian aviation sector’s pilots ?
4. IF MORE THAN 2 (i.e. 300+ pilots who are now on strike) JOINED THE UNION WHY WERE ALL NOT SACKED LAST MONTH. HAS ANYBODY EVER RAISED this CRUCIAL POINT : that just 2 seniormost pilots were differentiated against.
POINT HERE is HOW CAN a 2 member union survive. AND IF IT WAS not just 2 members then why the discrimination in firing just 2.
TO me it is a big game / gimmick played by SENIORMOST MGMT OF JET (Chairman Goyal, CEO, CFO and top few guys0 + the 2 “SACKED” PILOTS who seemed to have influenced or maybe pressurised rest 300 + pilots to make a STORY OUT OF IT.

WHO GAINS :
But first, who is loosing the most “FLYERS / CUSTOMERS”. SO, TRADITIONALLY who is likely to step in first - GOVERMENT . The guy : PP who anyways could be the mastermind in suggesting the approach to Naresh goyal after refusing to bow down last month for demands of JET / KINGFISHER.
LOOKS VERY FISHY to me since if consumers are at pain for relatively long, GOI and their ministed specially PPatel will chip in in the name of “for public” and give leeway to JET. SO PP (GOI) wins, JET of course would win and the PILOTS would at the end be reinstated (GUARANTEED including those 2 seniormost sacked pilots).
MAY SOUND LIKE A STORY.. BUT THIS IS THE WAY NEW “MEDIA EXPOSED” INDIA RUNS in HIGH CIRCLES. THis is just equivalent to a normal day to day case of and indian IT company not firing an employee but asking him / her to resign. HYPOCRISY ALL OVER.
GREAT LESSON LEARNT… JET (of course this time without MNS & RajThackeray)
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