<sigh>. Sorry guys. I respect you as pilots and fellow co-workers but some of you sound like hand-wringing village wives.
I am not sure I understand where management has gone “back” on what they have said. Back in early April when André Dosé and Björn Näf announced that there will be reductions total staffing at Gulf Air, I also recall them giving a general number and saying that, in the area of crew, they did not expect to have to make any lay-offs since the combination of “natural” attrition and a hiring-ban would take care of itself within a few months time.
Quite frankly, I appreciate the new management’s candidness in giving us the bad news and what needs to be done even though it had also given me some restless nights. However, in a part of the world where “normal” news is fantastic story-like projections of growth and opportunities, and where the ugly or bad is so sugarcoated to be unrecognizable, the medicine prescribed for curing Gulf Air also provoked a upset stomach in many employees. People got cold feet and competitors set up shop in the Mövenpick. The “stampede” ensued.
As a result, the “natural” attrition was greatly accelerated. I think management’s failure in this case was to overestimate how many people would get frightened and run for the exit. This is a shame, because I now believe we will have lost too many people. Recent memos have re-iterated that the Company does not have the intention to force the attrition of crew—but this time they have done so with much more compelling language. Yet this message, from all the messages I have read, has always been consistent since April. I appreciate also that Management has been trying to be very open. Individuals like Dosé and Näf have invited employees to approach them with their concerns, a fact that has been reiterated by Björn in this recent memo. But lets face it guys, while they are trying to make themselves available to address our own concerns (which they need to, by the way) they are trying to also run an airline and reform it into a sustainable organization.
So if not from crews, where will the lay-off’s come from? Well, there is more to an airline than just a couple pilots, a few more hosties in the back and some wrench-swinging mechanics. As I write this message, the Bangkok-station staff is attending a meeting to find out who will be laid-off. In Bangkok alone, about 50% of the staff will be losing their jobs. The morale there is very bad, as you can imagine, as they are losing their jobs as a result of something that they had nothing to do with. Other stations such as Hong Kong, Jo-burg and Dublin are closing entirely, and these people will also be collecting their last Gulf Air paycheck. I expect that there will be other staff-cuts in administrative areas.
Sadly, we are losing some great people here at Gulf Air, but I feel even more sad for those whose decision was made for them.