Jet Airways employees write to President Kovind, PM Modi seeking intervention in recovery of outstanding dues

After Jet Airways last flight took off on Wednesday, the employees of the airline on Saturday urged President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking their intervention to recover outstanding dues as well as to expedite the process of emergency funds.

Amid uncertainty over the future course of the carrier, two employee unions titled 'Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots' (SWIP) and 'Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association' wrote to the Prime Minister and President. 

The company which has around 23,000 employees, on Wednesday, took to Twitter and announced the suspension of all their domestic and international flights. 

Seeking assistance in clearing the outstanding salary dues, the employees explained the urgency and seriousness of the situation in the letter.

"We request you to consider the situation with the urgency it deserves and direct the management of Jet Airways (India) Ltd to expeditiously disburse all outstanding dues to affected employees,” one of the letter reads.

"We also urge you to expedite the process of emergency funding, as every minute and every decision is very critical in these testing times," it added.

The unions highlighted that a section of employees has not been paid their salaries on time for the last seven months and that the distressing situation was also brought to the notice of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in March.

"The management of Jet Airways has gone back on its salary arrears payment schedule conveyed by mail dated December 7, 2018. The outstanding amount for pilots and engineers as of now is three months salary (full salaries for the months of January, February and March), and for all other staff is one month's salary," they said.

The employees' unions explained that the non-payment of salaries is causing extreme hardships to employees, noting that they did their best to keep up the highest standards of safety and professionalism of the airlines even in such gruesome times.

“Even after all our efforts, we are not seeing any ray of hope and so it is our humble plea to take this matter under your guidance for an immediate action for the revival of the entire system," the unions mentioned.

Jet Airways has been in operation for over 26 years and a day after the airline declared the suspension of its operations, hundreds of employees had gathered in the national capital seeking measures to revive the carrier.

It has been found that several domestic lenders have invited bids for selling stake in the airline.

READ | Air India Lends A Helping Hand To Grounded Jet Airways, Hires 150 Cabin Crew Staff For Its International Flights

(With PTI inputs)