Jet Air clips wings of two pilots for forming union:
Manju V | TNN (Times News)
Mumbai: Barely an hour after Jet Airways along with other private airlines made the August 18 strike announcement on Friday,
the airline quietly pulled off its socialist mask and dismissed two of its senior commanders for forming a pilots’ union. From the passenger’s point of view, an airline where pilots have a voice could be considered more safer to fly than one where pilots have no say.
Pilots of Jet Airways have formed the National Aviator’s Guild and registered it on July 24 with the Labour Commissioner, Mumbai. “The pilots’ union voiced to the airline management that they would only be taking up air safety matters and not issues concerning salaries, promotion, etc, till the rough weather in the airline industry cleared,” said a source. However, it seems Jet Airways –– which is a member of the Federation of Indian Airlines, the airline lobby group ––
does not subscribe to the idea of its employees grouping up or forming common interest groups with labour rights.
In a move that smacked of double standards, the airline emailed the dismissal letters to these two pilots around 5.45pm on Friday. The same day, around 4.30pm, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal along with other airline bosses had announced to the media that the private airline operators would be suspending their domestic flights on August 18 to get the government reduce airport charges and sales tax on fuel. “Your services are no more required,” said the dismissal letters without stating any reason for the move. The Jet Airways spokesperson was not available for comments.
Unlike other employees union, a pilots’ union also takes up issues on air safety within the airline in a way which no air passenger’s body or consumer rights organisation can. Says Capt Mohan Ranganathan, a former airline pilot: “Airlines resorting to cost cutting, generally compromise on safety, training and maintenance. When a pilot has the protection of the union, he can stand up to his rights and refuse to be intimidated.”
Among aviation regulators, air crash investigators, pilots and even airline management officials world-wide, the general perception is that an unionised pilot is the most powerful safety system in aviation because the pilot can refuse to fly an aircraft that isn’t safe enough.