Dr. Sudhiru Ruparelia on Wednesday sacked all staff at Sanyu FM after they unanimously rejected a 25% salary reduction that the company subjected them to.
Sudhir and other top management are now slated to meet the disgruntled staff over the matter to give a second chance to all those who will agree to the 25% pay cut.
The aggrieved staff yesterday after receiving the news reportedly hijacked the company’s twitter account and asked all lawyers who were ready to take on their boss to come on board. They have however, since then returned the rights of the Twitter account to management of the station.
“We are considering legal actions against Sanyu FM for wrongful and unfair dismissal. Any lawyer who is ready to take on Ruparelia, please get in touch with us,” read one of the tweets.
“This was not our first choice of communication with Sanyu FM management, however, they choose not to treat us fairly in accordance with the law and fired us arbitrarily leaving us no choice. Hopefully if they are willing to negotiate, and this will be our last tweet,” another tweet read.
According to a letter from the managing director Azim Tharani, a copy of which this publication has obtained, the pay cut was unavoidable given the company’s financial challenges caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
“Whereas we understated your dismay at the 25 per cent reduction in your May salaries, we would also point out that many other big organizations have made deductions far greater than 25 per cent. As you are all aware, Sanyu is a commercial organization and not an NGO,” Tharani said.
“You also need to be cognizant of the reality on the ground which is that by having been defined as essential services and/or whatever strategies that you claim to have implemented the turn over for May 2020 was almost 50 per cent compared to previous year and less than 50 per center budget,” he added.
He however noted that board and senior management were slated to meet with heads of department to provide an explanation about the decision made to determine a way forward.
Meanwhile, Mr Rajiv Rupereia one of the managers said that the 25% pay cut suggestion from management was well thought out to enable the company go through this period, together with their staff without laying off anybody.
“This was idea whose final decision was to be reached at in the scheduled today’s meetings with all staff. They know about it,” Rajiv said.
“But good enough, some the staff have already admitted their mistake and have apologized. As a matter of fact, today you will hear the girl who has been working with Fat Boy, she apologized after realizing that fat boy was being too selfish. If you have other people, you can recommend them,” he added.
The National Organization of Trade Unions (NOTU) Chairman, Mr Usher Wilson Owere said that he has asked the general secretary to intervene and establish what happened before the organization can come in.
He, however, said that once the general secretary establishes some facts, NOTU is ready to offer lawyers to the disgruntled employees.
