Thursday, October 16, 2008

Hire & Fire: Jet Airways publicly pioneers the process in India



Aviation industry in India is going through doldrums. Coping with high fuel prices & low passenger load factors is proving to be costly for all carriers. This prompted two biggest carriers in India , Kingfisher & Jet , to form an operative alliance and dump, for once, 1000 of its air crews.

The fired employees, who were fresh and under probation, cried foul and have sought the help of 'enfant terrible' , Raj Thackeray , leader of a parochial , close minded political entity called MNS.

While Raj arrogantly has threatened to forcibly ground Jet in Mumbai, there is little reaction from the labour minister, Oscar Fernandes on the legality of such a move. Out of the blue, Deora, pertoleum minister, thinks Jet has carried the matter a bit too far and should be hauled up for non-payment of dues to Deora's petroleum ministry even though the credit period of Jet is still valid. The grand old man of trade unionism , Gurudas "spitfire" Dasgupta , even led a bannered protest on behalf of airlines crew.

The viewers on the tube couldn't care less. And they kept on searching for pretty faces among the protesting crews , some of whom claimed to be air hostesses. Having found none, they opined that these probationary officers, who have qualified from dubious institutes, deserve to be grounded.Not one pretty face!WTF!

Welcome to hire & fire in India.

This is one small step for 'labour relations' but a giant leap for 'business adaptability' in India.
Raj Thackeray, notwithstanding!!!
Late news: Baniya Goyal , Chairman of Jet Airways, with his fidgety eyes announced late last night that he was suffering from insomnia after seeing the "agony" of fired employees & hence has reinstated all his employees. The same people who Goyal , just two days back, had dismissively called "probationers & not part of family"! So, first round goes to Raj while Goyal looks eagerly towards the government for a possible financial bailout and/or extension of credit period for paying fuel bills.

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