The Latter Letter

31 October 2007

Flight Operations Administrator
Trans Maldivian Airways Pvt Ltd
Male International Airport
PO Box 2079
Republic of Maldives

Dear Zambe,
It is with some regret that I am forced to write this letter. I formally and without reservation submit my resignation to you effective immediately. Please accept my sincere apology if my absence inconveniences your role in any way as this is far from my intention. Yourself, Fahaud and Ishan have always been a pleasure to deal with and my departure is in no way a reflection of you or the flight ops department.
Throughout my whole working life, I have always been a loyal and hard working employee. It saddens me that I am now tarnishing my hard earned employment record. But in my defence I would like to say initially that it is extremely difficult to demonstrate loyalty when the same is not even offered in return from the company for which you are employed.
“Death by one thousand cuts...” When I first heard this expression from a former senior captain in relation to being employed by TMA, I was unsure of its relevance. I now know why this expression is used so frequently and how true a statement it actually is.
Unfortunately I suffered the deepest cut from TMA management before I even commenced employment with the company. Once my application for employment had been approved in late April 2007, I was informed by the company Human Resources Manager that I would need to leave Australia in fourteen days. So therefore in preparation for this departure I ceased employment at my than current employer, attended to some domestic issues than awaited information from TMA regarding my actual confirmed flight details. As you know I arrived in Male on the 1st of July, which suffered me two months of unemployment, with a bare minimum of correspondence from the HR Manager advising me of limited and false reasoning and estimation of the delay! Essentially this equated to a personal financial loss to me in excess of AUD$6000 in lost salary and a depleted savings account which I needed to sustain me for this two month period. What a way to start!!! So as you can imagine, this left an extremely bitter taste in my mouth from the onset. Having said that, when I did eventually arrive here, I attempted to keep an open mind and not let it affect my employment at TMA. To my dismay, the death by one thousand cuts continued... Below is just a short list of events.
Time taken to reimburse my initial airfare
After submitting my expense form, when asking Alfie when the funds will transfer into my account, he for two weeks continually lied to me by repeatedly saying that the funds would be transferred tonight. All of this while looking me in directly in the eye!
Expatriate Airfares
For the sake of saving US$77, my flight back from Australia returning from leave had me in transit for 31 hours!!! Sydney, Brisbane, Kuala Lumper, Singapore, Columbo and Male. This trip should normally only take about 14 hours.
Accommodation
Not allowing two friends that have known each other for years to live in the same apartment together
Moving fulltime pilots to different apartments if they are away on leave.
Having a shower that runs hot water for more than two minutes!
Tango Mike Alpha incident at Coco Palm
When flying with Captain Rod Cooper, as you know we suffered an EFATO at Coco Palm fully loaded with passengers. Neither of us expected or wanted any accolades after this occurred, but a simple “pat on the back” or a “well done for saving the aircraft and the passengers”, given by our esteemed leader Bram Steller would have been reward enough. This was obviously too difficult. There was never any mentioned of that incident again!
Salary
The pay scale for DHC-6 First Officers is a joke! You know what I mean.
US Dollar weaker against the stronger Canadian and Australian Dollars
As I mentioned above, this is a brief outline of the Death by one thousand cuts philosophy that TMA management has adopted and embraced. If an employee goes above and beyond their call of duty, there is no recognition whatsoever, but the first time that employee is involved in the slightest error the vultures are quick to act! The fact is, expatriate pilot morale is extremely low at present. If Mr Steller and his colleagues could only fathom the idea that implementing simple basic niceties would lift expatriate employee morale infinitely, and therefore increase productivity. If employee conditions were improved, employee morale would improve; therefore employee loyalty would amplify exponentially. Employee loyalty would therefore reduce the extremely high turnover in staff and obviously significantly reduce training costs. These are basic management principles!
As we say in Australia, “...Unfortunately, I maybe kicking a dead horse.”
There is an abundance of talent and experience in TMA’s pilot ranks, both expatriate and Maldivian, but I fear that if things continue as they are, like me, more pilots will be looking for greener pastures.
In closing I would like to mention the fact that I have had the pleasure of making some very dear and valued friends (Expat and Maldivian) in my time here, and it saddens me deeply that I will not be able to say goodbye to them properly as they are unaware of my decision to leave the Maldives. They will receive a copy of this letter as you have. My rationale for not informing my friends was to not place them in an unwillingly treacherous position toward TMA. With their support, they helped make appear an unsatisfactory experience seem bearable.
I fully expect that I will be forgotten in a short time, although my hope is that a departure such as this may open TMA’s eyes. As I conclude this letter I can’t help but look at the top of today’s Mayfly,
“Trans Maldivian. We care...” Well Mr Steller, how about you practice what you preach!
Sincerely and respectfully yours,
George Kable