Jet says sorry, and takes back all sacked staff.

MUMBAI: In a stunning U-turn, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal late Thursday night announced the reinstatement of all 1,900 sacked employees and Jet Airways takes back all sacked staff Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal announcing reinstatement of sacked employees and asked them to return to work on Friday morning.

Apologizing for "the agony" that the staffers must have undergone, he said, "The management might not like my decision but sometimes there are disagreements within the family and as the head of the family, I am taking this decision."

Goyal said he had been unable to sleep because of recent events. "I am mentally disturbed with all this and I will not be able to live (like this) as long as I live my life." Calling it the most emotional day of his life he said, "My daughter is 19 years old. They (the sacked employees) are 20 or so. I cannot see their trauma and agony."

Distancing himself from the decision, he said the management had taken it on the basis of economic conditions in the industry. He claimed he didn’t even know the number of employees who had been sacked. "I was out of town and just flew back on Thursday night." He declined to commit himself on a revision of salaries although reports suggested that the staff might have to take a pay cut.

When asked if the company worked without his mandate, he said, "As chairman, it was my mandate to them to cut costs. The management had worked out an equation based only on arithmetic. But my conscience does not allow me to look at economics alone."

He denied that the volte-face was due to any political pressure. "I swear on my dead mother that I have not spoken to any politician." He said it was purely a personal decision, taken "as the father of the family" after he had seen "the tears of all the employees".

Goyal said the sacking had nothing to do with Kingfisher and that its alliance was altogether a different issue. "The alliance with Kingfisher is Jet Airways takes back all sacked staff Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal announcing reinstatement of sacked employees a synergy and a separate issue. A steering group has been constituted to work out rationalization of routes and other things," he said.

On the issue of cost-cutting, he said, "As a family we can sit together and work out how we continue to fly." He said cost-cutting would have to be done, but reducing staff wouldn’t make such an impact.

The sacked employees were overjoyed with the announcement. "We are all extremely pleased and thankful. We had always wanted to work with Naresh Goyal. We apologize if we hurt his sentiments during the protests," said a cabin crew member.

This is from The Times of India website.

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YES YES YES! Please say this involves the foreign crew as well!