Air Comet employees protest in Madrid

 

Air Comet employees who found themselves out of work just three days before Christmas, today staged a protest outside the government offices in Madrid.

The anger of the protesters was largely directed at the ineptitude of Gerado Diaz Ferran, the Chairman of the troubled Airline, with some of the banners declaring ‘Gerardo Díaz owes me eight months' salary. Pay up now, thief'. Other signs carried during today's protest bore the words, ‘Incompetent managers = families in ruin', and ‘Boss defrauds us and then it's us he fires'.

The Airline ran numerous flights every week between Madrid and South America, and is thought to have been in financial trouble and many workers say they have not been paid for some months.

Air Comet's license was suspended by the Ministry of public works, leaving about 640 employees jobless and thousands of passengers stranded on two continents, leaving the government to put together specially designed ‘rescue flights'.

A number of former employees managed to cut off the Paseo de la Castellana - a busy and important area in Madrid's Business district.

But the ministry of public works, outside whose office the protest took place, says that any redundancy terms and conditions relating to the airline do not fall within its jurisdiction, reporting that, along with the ministry of work, they had offered employees the alternative of attending an ‘informative meeting', which they allegedly rejected.