jetjockey696
24th Nov 2010, 12:11
A group of people claiming to represent the Workers Union of national airline Garuda Indonesia apologized for the recent spate of flight cancellations, claiming they were not merely caused by a technical glitch in a new operational monitoring system, as the airline claimed, but were also the result of mismanagement.
“We apologize for the flight disturbance, but the public should know that they were caused by mismanagement and the minister of state-owned enterprises should open an investigation,” the union's spokesperson said during an interview with TVOne.
The group claiming to represent the union members was featured on a TVOne morning program during a portion of the show usually reserved for citizens wanting to make public announcements.
According to the statement given by the union spokesperson on the show, the "mismanagement" had been an ongoing issue.
As many as 737 passengers from six flights had to spend Sunday night in hotels, at a cost to Garuda of Rp 240 million ($27,000). In an official statement Garuda said the problems were the result of a crew rotation system malfunction.
Seventeen more flights were canceled between Monday and Tuesday.
“What happened [during the flight cancellations] is not as simple as a 'loose wire.' We have sent 1,133 letters to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono telling him about the mismanagement but we have not received any responses,” he said.
The group further claimed that the flight disruptions were not caused by any union strikes.
“Striking is the employees' right, but we haven't used that option. We will meet with the state enterprises minister to report what is going on,” the spokesperson said.
Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar, who was featured on the same TVOne morning program just two hours after the union worker representatives left the studio, refused to comment on the mismanagement claims.
“Everybody in management is doing their best to give good service. The company is having problems, but those people [the union workers] are not helping,” Emirsyah said after watching footage of the union workers' claims.
He said he was making an effort to transform the company.
“Not everyone will be pleased with all the decisions made when you are trying to transform a company, but all the decisions I make are for the company's benefit,” he said.
Emirsyah promised the flight chaos would be resolved by Thursday.
“I can't promise that there won't be any delays, but if there are delays, I can say they are not caused by system troubles,” he said.
Garuda has been canceling and delaying flights since Saturday. The airline said the problems were caused by the loss of crew rotation data during the switch-over to a new operations system.
“We apologize for the flight disturbance, but the public should know that they were caused by mismanagement and the minister of state-owned enterprises should open an investigation,” the union's spokesperson said during an interview with TVOne.
The group claiming to represent the union members was featured on a TVOne morning program during a portion of the show usually reserved for citizens wanting to make public announcements.
According to the statement given by the union spokesperson on the show, the "mismanagement" had been an ongoing issue.
As many as 737 passengers from six flights had to spend Sunday night in hotels, at a cost to Garuda of Rp 240 million ($27,000). In an official statement Garuda said the problems were the result of a crew rotation system malfunction.
Seventeen more flights were canceled between Monday and Tuesday.
“What happened [during the flight cancellations] is not as simple as a 'loose wire.' We have sent 1,133 letters to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono telling him about the mismanagement but we have not received any responses,” he said.
The group further claimed that the flight disruptions were not caused by any union strikes.
“Striking is the employees' right, but we haven't used that option. We will meet with the state enterprises minister to report what is going on,” the spokesperson said.
Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar, who was featured on the same TVOne morning program just two hours after the union worker representatives left the studio, refused to comment on the mismanagement claims.
“Everybody in management is doing their best to give good service. The company is having problems, but those people [the union workers] are not helping,” Emirsyah said after watching footage of the union workers' claims.
He said he was making an effort to transform the company.
“Not everyone will be pleased with all the decisions made when you are trying to transform a company, but all the decisions I make are for the company's benefit,” he said.
Emirsyah promised the flight chaos would be resolved by Thursday.
“I can't promise that there won't be any delays, but if there are delays, I can say they are not caused by system troubles,” he said.
Garuda has been canceling and delaying flights since Saturday. The airline said the problems were caused by the loss of crew rotation data during the switch-over to a new operations system.