SBI tells Jet Airways' employees to wait till airline flies again
30 May 2019
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Employees of grounder carrier Jet Airways will have to wait till the airline flies again to get salaries that are long overdue even as the government has said it is examining whether promoters of Jet Airways (India) Ltd. are involved in financial irregularities as in the case of Vijay Mallya, who was in control of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
A conciliation meeting between State Bank of India (SBI), which now controls Jet Airways on behalf of the lenders consortium and Bharatiya Kamgar Sena that represents the airline’s employees held by the deputy chief labour commissioner failed to yield any result as SBI insisted that the pending salary of Jet Airways' employees will be released only after the airline is functional again.
Employees of cash-strapped Jet Airways have not received their salaries for March and April, whereas pilots, engineers and senior management have not been paid salaries since December 2018. The grounded airline that suspended operations on 17 April, owes over Rs7,000 crore to the nine Indian Banks led by SBI.
SBI representative said efforts were being made to bring new partners to raise funds for Jet Airways' revival, even as Jet employees pointed to mandatory labor laws and gratuity payment.
The management of the airline stated that it had no funds for the payment of gratuity. It's been the second time in this month when no civil aviation ministry representative attended the conciliation meeting.
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