Air Mauritius puts staff on unpaid leave and suggests finding alternative jobs
From 1 October, Air Mauritius employees will take unpaid leave, or work part-time (depending on the nature of their work). This is what emerges from the press release signed by the directors of the national company, and sent to the employees on Friday, September 18. According to Sattar Hajee Abdoula and Arvindsingh K. Gokhool, "this will apply to everyone, with a few exceptions, for example incumbents or those whose presence is essential to ensure the continued functioning of the company."
"As you know, there is currently no visibility of a full resumption of commercial flights. According to aviation experts, air travel is optimistically not expected to return to pre-levels. -Covid before 2024. The company has virtually no activity, nor any income. We are quickly running out of cash. Cost reduction measures have been put in place with regard to the company's creditors. However, all of this is not enough, ”they justify.
The measure could affect 50% of the staff. To make this plan effective, Air Mauritius obtained the prior approval of the Ministry of Labor. For those who will be put on unpaid leave, the company allows them "to look for another job or to engage in gainful activities. "
"We fully appreciate the stress caused by this situation and we want to reassure all employees that we are doing our best to preserve jobs," say the directors.
The Air Mauritius group, under provisional administration since April 22, currently has nearly 3,000 employees. According to Sattar Hajee Abdoula, the carrier needs an injection of 10.3 billion rupees ($ 260 million) to honor its financial commitments. According to this, the company could lose around Rs 9 billion by the end of the fiscal year in March 2021, if costs are not reduced in the short term. In June, the government pledged to inject an equivalent allocation to support the carrier.
