THE national flag carrier,
Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), has announced plans to lay-off an
estimated 200 employees as part of its efforts to revamp the
struggling airline.
The redundancy, which will
affect 90 per cent of the airline’s employees, is aimed at implementing
President John Magufuli’s directive to the new management to boost efficiency
and send home all ineffective workers.
ATCL director general Eng Ladislaus Matindi
told The Guardian yesterday they are in the process of suspending workers who
can’t cope with current working speed.
“We have a good number of employees but only a
few are efficient enough… we are filtering them so we can remain with the best
personnel only,” Eng Matindi said.
He said the company
currently has a total of 221 employees, which is too big for them to handle.
Eng Matindi cited some of
the criteria to be used in laying off employees as working experience, academic
qualifications, and customer care aptitude.
He said the exercise will touch each of the
airline’s sections, including managers and directors.
“We are determined to improve our services; we
can only achieve that by working with experienced and educated staff.
Experienced staffers without good customer service attitudes will also be
removed,” he said.
There are unconfirmed
reports that the airline has already suspended almost all workers in its Comoro
and Mwanza offices as part of the staff-culling exercise.
Speaking at a recent
function to receive two new Bombardier Q400 planes purchased for the airline
from Canada, President Magufuli singled out the two regional offices as points
of massive fraud being conducted through issuing tickets meant for children to
be used by adults. He directed the new ATCL management to retrench workers who
he said have failed to go with his ‘speed’ in terms of work ethic.
In his one year in office so
far, the president has made the restoration of ATCL into the competitive
airline of old one of his government’s priority concerns. Plans are now afoot
for the national carrier to purchase at least two jet planes – an Airbus A330200
and Bombardier CS 300 and another Bombardier Q400 plane by 2018.
source: ippmedia
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