(Reuters): About 200 employees fired by top Indian private carrier Jet Airways staged a noisy protest on Thursday, while politicians weighed in on their side, demanding an inquiry into job losses in the struggling industry. Jet Airways said on Wednesday it would lay off 1,100 staff in the next few days, on top of the 800 flight attendants already retrenched, as part of efforts to cope with slowing demand, high fuel prices and the global credit crunch.
The job losses and protests have struck in an industry at the heart of India’s economic modernisation, with millions of middle-class Indians taking to the skies and carriers employing thousands of young men and women in glamorous jobs. The airlines are asking for the government to bail them out, but the government, already facing a fiscal squeeze, has so far done nothing to help.
Nevertheless, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said it was the wrong time for Jet to be laying off employees, while Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernandes asked for a urgent report. A spokeswoman for Jet Airways, which had a total staff of around 13,000 people, declined comment. “We want our jobs back,” shouted Jet employees, dressed in the airline’s canary yellow and navy blue uniform, pumping their fists in the air, outside the office in Mumbai.
Analysts and activists said the sudden layoffs left the employees, who were mostly on contract or probation, with few options. “They have been terminated without notice, and they have little by way of legal recourse now,” said Vinod Shetty, a lawyer and consumer activist. They have found support from local party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which reported by local media to be in talks with Jet officials for the reinstatement of employees from the state.
An analyst said job cuts were necessary, as airlines bloated by recent expansion adjust to the new reality of falling demand. “When the industry is going through a tough time and the airline is posting losses and has no access to capital, it needs to do everything possible to cut costs,” said Kapil Kaul, chief executive in India for the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation. Archaic labour laws that make it hard to lay off employees have led to a policy of hiring more contract workers in India, which has sparked protests at the Indian units of Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co in recent years. Last month, sacked employees beat to death the India head of an Italian industrial gear manufacturing company near Delhi.
The Indian aviation industry, which had grown at an average annual pace of more than 25 percent in the past few years in a booming economy, is forecast to post combined losses of nearly $2 billion in the year to March 2009. That would be the biggest loss outside the United States, the International Air Transport Association has said. Jet Airways is expected to break even in the full year to March 2010.
Govt washes hands off sacking employees
New Delhi, October 16 (PTI): Ministers criticised it, sought a report on it and sympathised with those at the receiving end of it, but hinted there was little the government could do about Jet Airways decision to sack 1,900 employees. “There is no responsibility of the government in this case. Our responsibility is only to ensure that the economy is functioning well,” Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said at a briefing on decisions taken by the Union Cabinet.
He said the Cabinet did not discuss Jet’s sack order at its meeting, although Petroleum Minister Murli Deora separately criticised the timing of the decision - right in the middle of the festival season. “I appeal to (Jet Chairman Naresh) Goyal not to retrench people and try to find some solution. We have supported Goyal several times (but) this is not the right time to retrench people, particularly before Diwali,” he said.
Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes said he had asked the Chief Labour Commissioner to submit a report (on Jet Airways sacking workers). Jet handed out the pink slips to its probationary staff, who were recruited for expansion purposes, following an unexpected downturn in the industry. The retrenchment would result in savings of USD one million for the airline. “There is a problem in the aviation industry, particularly in Jet Airways. Definitely, I am looking into it,” he said.
“When our airlines are not profitable, then they will have to take their own decision as to how will they remain efficient and competitive,” Sibal said. Similar views were expressed by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath who said: “Jet is a commercial organisation and it has to take its own commercial decisions.”
