Raj’s roar: Take them back, or else...

Sacked Jet employees tried to muster some political clout by turning to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, reports Naresh Kamath.

Sacked Jet employees tried to muster some political clout by turning to Raj Thackeray.

HT Image

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief obliged, threatening to block Jet operations in Mumbai if the employees were not taken back.

“We will meet with Jet [officials]. If they don’t agree to take back the employees, we will ensure that not a single Jet flight takes off or lands at Mumbai,” threatened Thackeray.

By Wednesday evening, Jet had laid off 1,900 staffers.

Over 300 of them marched to the MNS headquarters, asking Thackeray for help.

It was a sight MNS workers were not familiar with — flight attendants and stewards in full Jet regalia, raising slogans and asking for support.

“We will not allow Jet to function arbitrarily. These people must have taken loans or may have domestic responsibilities and now they’ve been summarily sacked. We are determined to see them taken back,” Thackeray said later.

There were rumours that the sacked employees had been by the Shiv Sena too. However, this could not be confirmed.