‘Hands are tied... Can't sleep at night’: Despair over jobs as Jet Airways grounded

Agencies
April 19, 2019

New Delhi, Apr 19: Bhoja Poojari has handled baggage for India's Jet Airways Ltd since it began flying nearly 26 years ago. Now, like many other Jet employees, he fears for the future as the debt-laden airline descends into crisis.

"If this continues, I do not know what to do," said the 53-year-old father of two, who has not been paid in nearly two months and may be forced to sell his house.

"I feel like my hands are tied and I can't sleep at night," Poojari told Reuters. "I haven't told my children anything. They are very young, but they know something is wrong."

Thousands of employees have been stung by the rapid unravelling of Jet Airways, which, saddled with more than $1.2 billion in bank debt, grounded all its planes on Wednesday after lenders rejected a plea for emergency funds.

The shutdown has deepened the crisis as dues to lessors, staff and suppliers pile up and lenders scramble to find a buyer for what was once India's largest private airline.
Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube told employees on Wednesday that the sale would take time and could throw up more challenges, but he was confident the airline would fly again.

Failure would threaten more than 16,000 staff jobs and thousands more tied to the airline, which at its peak operated over 120 planes and more than 600 daily flights.

More than a dozen employees told Reuters they had gone two to four months without pay. Many grapple with unpaid bills, overdue home loans, school and tuition fees.

"We have stopped going out for movies, to restaurants or any other form of entertainment," said a Jet engineer, who is self-tutoring his children after cancelling private tuitions.

He is listed as a defaulter in his community for failing to meet his building maintenance fee payments. "It's a huge stigma for my family," he said, declining to be named.

'Save our family'

Hundreds of angry employees have protested in New Delhi and Mumbai, accusing management of leaving staff in the dark about the airline's worsening crisis.

"Management never gives us a clear picture," airline union leader Chaitanya Mainkar shouted during a protest at Mumbai's international airport on Friday where employees chanted slogans and waved posters that read "Save Jet Airways, Save Our Family."

Jet pilots appealed for intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is facing wider criticism over the scarcity of jobs as he campaigns for re-election in polls now underway.

Last month, Modi asked state-run banks to rescue Jet Airways without pushing it into bankruptcy, averting thousands of job losses. But the airline never received the agreed stop-gap loan of about $217 million.

"At least now we know the talks about caring for employment, creating jobs is all an eyewash," Captain Asim Valiani, vice president of the National Aviator's Guild representing Jet pilots, told Reuters after the shutdown.

"I've been with Jet for 23 years and am shattered today. I don't know what I will tell our pilots," he said, adding the guild would take the airline to court to seek unpaid wages.

Murky future

Jet Airways has lost key employees as the crisis unfolded.

About 400 pilots have moved to other airlines, leaving Jet with about 1,300 pilots, said a senior Jet pilot. About 40 engineers have also left, a senior engineer said.

Some veteran employees remain loyal to the airline and hope it can be restored to its former glory.

"I have worked here from the beginning - first day, first show," said Anil Sahu, a 50-year-old baggage handler with 25 years of service.

"Even after all of this, we have trust in Jet. It's a tsunami that has come, but we hope everything will return to normal," he said.

Other senior employees like Poojari say they will struggle to find work if the airline fails.

"If I had quit earlier there was still a chance of moving on, but after 26 years and having crossed 50 (years of age), where will I find a job?"

Comments

Ahmed
 - 
Saturday, 20 Apr 2019

BJP Pm  alredy informed do PAKODA business lets start MODI PAKODA , SHA PANIPRUI YOGI BEEF FRY ,JATLEEY KCIHDY ,AMABANI BEEF BIRYANI,ADNANI GOBI manchurry SMITHA IRANI fried rice ARONB FORK FRY ...

Abdul basheer
 - 
Saturday, 20 Apr 2019

 BJP slogon they say when congress in ruled  indian not developed  after CHOWKIDAR sit in PM seat jetairways flight grounded all employers lost thier job and carriers NOW modi bhakta whom to blame bank looted BSNL employer not get salary from 6 months airport sold to modi friend ADNANI group HAL gifted  to ANIL AMBANI if next CHOWIKAR sit in Pm seat indain will sold to all gujrathi ...indian capital shifted to gujarath delhi changed to MODI NAGAR indian name changed to MODISHA DESH 

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News Network
February 22,2020

Johannesburg, Feb 22: To meet shortage of skilled nursing staff, private hospitals in South Africa are recruiting senior Indian nurses for their good work ethics and ability to become efficient trainers for the local staff, according to a media report.

A report at a 2018 jobs summit indicated that the country had a shortage of more than 47,000 nurses.

The shortage of the skilled nursing staff has been attributed to several factors, including preference of highly qualified nurses to emigrate or take up contract employment in countries such as the UK, the United Aarb Emirates, Saudi Arabia or New Zealand for want of higher salaries, a report in the weekly Business Times said.

Mediclinic, one of South Africa's largest private hospital groups, confirmed that it is recruiting 150 nurses from India this year.

“To supplement our training, as an internal strategy, we will continue to recruit senior registered nurses from India,” a Mediclinic spokesperson told the Business Times.

Mediclinic started recruiting nurses from India in 2005 but could not provide details about how many among the more than 8,800 nurses it employs at its hospitals are from India.

Another company, Life Healthcare SA, said it employed 135 Indian nurses between 2008 and 2014.

Top managements at the hospital groups lauded senior Indian nurses as being very efficient trainers for local staff.

“But we find that many of them prefer coming here on short-term contracts due to family commitments," a hospital executive said on the basis of anonymity.

The official said that the few who apply for long-term positions are usually young newly-qualified nurses, which is not the group in demand.

“They work hard, with a patient-oriented work ethic, and do not have the nine-to-five approach of many local nurses, especially those who are unionised," the official said.

“We would be very happy to take in more nursing staff from India," the official added.

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News Network
June 17,2020

New Delhi, Jun 17: With an increase of 10,974 new cases and 2,003 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 3,54,065 on Wednesday while the toll due to the virus stands at 11,903.

This includes 1,55,227 active cases and 1,86,935 cured, discharged and migrated patients, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the spike in the number of cases has stayed below the 11-thousand mark, the death toll has increased manifold today as compared to the 380 death reported on Tuesday.

Maharashtra with 1,13,445 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country with 50,057 active cases while 57,851 patients have been cured and discharged in the state so far. The toll due to COVID-19 has crossed the five thousand mark and reached 5,537 in the state.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu with 48,019 and the national capital with 44,688 confirmed cases.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Mumbai, Apr 14: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announed extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3, a large number of migrant workers who earn daily wages came out on road in Mumbai on Tuesday demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places.

Bandra in Mumbai right now. Police probing what caused such a large crowd to gather. pic.twitter.com/04H1Mnggd2

— Padmaja joshi (@PadmajaJoshi) April 14, 2020

Daily wage workers have been rendered jobless ever since the lockdown was announced late last month to stem the spread of COVID-19, making their life a constant struggle.

Though authorities and NGOs have made arrangemnets for their food, most of them want to go back to their native places to escape the hardship brought by the sweeping curbs.

Wow. Thousands of ambassadors of peace doing this at #Bandra right now. Well done @OfficeofUT, well done. The world should see this.#Covid_19 #COVIDIOTSpic.twitter.com/SdinaZXm39

— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 14, 2020

According to a police official, daily wage earners, numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station and squatted on road at around 3 pm.

The daily wage earners, who reside on rent in slums in in the nearby Patel Nagri locality, were demanding arrangement of transport facilities so that they can go back to their native towns and villages.

They originally hail from states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Thousands of migrants gather at Mumbai's #Bandra railway station and protested. All are migrant workers, specially from Bihar-Bangal and they wanted to go home. They had hoped trains will start today. The police is investigating the matter and says crowd has been dispersed now. pic.twitter.com/NMHfv0CEpj

— Shivangi Thakur (@thakur_shivangi) April 14, 2020

One of the labourers, who did not reveal his name, said, NGOs and local residents are providing food to migrant workers, but they want to go back to their native states during the lockdown which has badly affected their source of livelihood.

"Now, we dont want food, we want to go back to our native place, we are not happy with the announcement (extending the lockdown)," he said, looking dejected.

Asadullah Sheikh, who hails from from Malda in West Bengal, said, We have already spent our savings during the first phase of the lockdown. We have nothing to eat now, we just want to go back at our native place, the government should made arrangements for us.

This happened in bandra just minutes back ! This can be potentially dangerous. Mumbai anyways is a hotspot ! What is the @MumbaiPolice and @OfficeofUT doing ???? Did @uddhavthackeray not provide food and shelter to such migrants ? #mumbai #UddhavThackeray #Lockdown2 pic.twitter.com/AeSuqbwhyN

— Megha Prasad (@MeghaSPrasad) April 14, 2020

Another labourer, Abdul Kayyun, said I am in Mumbai for last many years but have never seen such a situation. The government should start trains to shift us from here to our native place."

Heavy police deployment was made at the protest site to tackle any untoward incident.

Personnel from other police stations were called at the spot to maintain order, the official addd.

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