Indian unions raise ante in airline merger talks

Mumbai: Airline unions, mainly in the domestic carrier Indian, are jockeying to make the most of the situation, even as the government moves ahead with plans to merge the airline with sister PSU carrier Air India.Sources close to the process say most unions in Air India have reconciled to the merger, while those in Indian have opposed it and insist that their pending demands be settled before they give their assent to the process. Minister for civil aviation Praful Patel will meet with unions in the two carriers this Wednesday again, in an attempt to sort out the differences.
At stake in Indian are three major issues — that of a wage revision agreement, which is pending since 1997; of clarity on career progression vis-à-vis Air India employees; and finally the contentious issue of the payment of arrears. Senior officials in Indian say the first two issues may be sorted out, but paying the 18,000 workforce arrears for the past decade is not on the cards.
06/03/07 Cuckoo Paul/Economic Times

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Categories: Air India Mar 2007, indian mar 2007