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Amit Mitra

Mumbai, Oct. 17 After two days of despair and tears, the smiles were back on their faces on Friday.

Only on Thursday afternoon, the 200-odd young employees of Jet Airways, who were part of the 1,900 employees sacked by the company across the country, were braving a pitiless sun on Mumbai streets to shout slogans, demanding their jobs back. Barely 24 hours later, on Friday afternoon, the cheerful flight attendants and cabin crew were relishing a lunch in the plush air-conditioned hall of a five-star hotel in South Mumbai, hosted by their boss, Mr Naresh Goyal.

The Chairman of Jet Airways, at the luncheon meeting, openly apologised to the employees for the “agony” they had to go through and officially declared that they could join work on Friday (October 17).

After Mr Goyal made a U-turn late on Thursday night, when he announced the reinstatement of all the 1,900 sacked employees at a hastily-convened press conference at 11.30 p.m., the employees were asked to assemble at their office on the Andheri Kurla road on Friday morning. Most of them did not even know where they were being taken to in the four luxury buses that were arranged to transport them to the five-star hotel for a meeting with their boss.

“It, after all, has ended well. Now I will be able to repay the Rs 50,000 loan I had taken to get me through the training for the job,” says a cheerful flight attendant from Kolkata, who did not want to be named. Adds her colleague: “I am not even thinking of possible salary cuts now. The important thing was to get the job back. Only yesterday I was mentally preparing myself to pack up and head for my home in Assam.”

An emotional Mr Goyal, at the press conference on Thursday night, said “I could not see the tears on their (sacked employees) eyes — I could not sleep after I saw what happened.”

Agreeing that the aviation industry and the company were going through tough economic times, he said that as the head of the Jet family, he wanted to see the smiles back on their faces, as they got back to work on Friday. “I know these are difficult times, and together we will find a way out of the crisis,” he said.

The Jet chief made it clear that he had not taken the decision after any pressure from outside. “As the father of the Jet family, my conscience does not allow me to look at mere economics only.” A few employees caught up with Mr Goyal as they trooped out of the five-star hotel, and thanked him for their reinstatement. Asked whether the Jet chief had given any hints of a possible salary cut at the closed-door meeting, a flight attendant, on condition of anonymity, said Mr Goyal had in fact made it clear that there was no immediate salary revision on the cards. Their boss did not even mention their taking up the issue of sacking with political leaders.

Clearly, this means a bright Diwali for the airline employees.

More Stories on : Human Resources | Airlines | Jet Airways (India) Ltd

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