RALLY YESTERDAY, RUNWAY TODAY: The employees of Jet Airways who lent rare glamour quotient to a Citu rally at the airport on Thursday were nowhere to be seen at the Citu rally on Friday. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Citu’s glamour quotient dipped overnight as the reinstated Jet Airways probationers who had rubbed shoulders with union leaders on Thursday cold-shouldered them on Friday.

“We are delighted to get back our jobs and grateful to the Citu leaders who helped us in our hour of crisis. But we don’t want to be part of any political movement now,” an airhostess told Metro.

Flag-wielding Citu activists, usually intolerant of anything remotely resembling a snub, seemed to understand the predicament of the probationers.

“They (the Jet employees) were reluctant to take part in the victory rally. We tried to persuade them to join us but didn’t go beyond that because we understood they had to go back and work for a company that had sacked them only two days earlier,” a leader of the Citu-affiliated All India Airport Staff and Workers’ Union explained.

Soumen Chakraborty, one of the 10 probationers who had hit the streets under the Citu banner on Thursday, cut a distinctly different figure from the forlorn flight attendant whose face mirrored the desperation of someone whose dreams had been grounded.

Soumen Chakraborty rejoices after being reinstated

“I received a call from the base office at 9 in the morning, asking me to report for duty,” said a beaming Soumen, who reached the airport around 12.30pm.

Before entering the airport, some of the 21 reinstated probationers based in Calcutta had visited the Citu office and even agreed to participate in the proposed victory rally. They changed their minds after spending over an hour at the Jet Airways office.

“We were warmly welcomed back. Our bosses told us that every member of the staff had felt sorry for us and were happy to have us back,” said a probationer who was among those seen at the Citu office earlier in the day.

Battle-hardened union leaders who witnessed the ceremonial homecoming around 3.15pm — the reinstated employees were offered sweets and cheered by the airport staff — said the probationers would do well to form an association soon to safeguard their interest.

Sanghamitra Majumdar with her father on Friday

“Employees in certain sectors could never have imagined that they would need to join a trade union movement someday. But after this jolt a group of them approached us. This crisis is over but the danger looms large,” said Swapan Gupta, the general secretary of the Citu-affiliated Airport Ground Workmen’s Union.

“We advised them to form their own association with cabin crew of other airlines. We can provide them support and affiliation.”

But forming a union was the last thing on the minds of the reinstated probationers on Friday. Armed with the assurance that their jobs were safe, at least for now, many of them headed home to celebrate, robbing Citu’s victory lap of the colour its protest rally had on Thursday.

At the Madhyamgram residence of Sanghamitra Majumdar, father Rabin said his daughter’s reinstatement was a festival gift. “We largely depend on her income and the uncertainty had robbed us of sleep. We are so relieved,” said the retired bank employee.