Apropos the debate “Should Air India have sacked Baldauf?” (March 9), the decision to let COO Gustav Baldauf resign rather than sack him seems to be aimed at saving Air India’s face and not the reputation of its low-performing COO. The entire selection process was palpably wrong. Knowing that the ills of the company are rooted in poor employer-employee relations, there was no point in going for a foreign head. Although he promised a lot with a grandiose plan, he spent more time on personal pleasure and leisure and less on labour.
Air India may have its reasons to let the man go unpunished, but the government has no reason to save the decision makers who chose someone who, instead of lifting the once-jewel-of-India company, brought it down to fourth in ranking among domestic carriers.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
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