Worker angst rides high at Air India

New Delhi: Five months into what is one of India’s most visible mergers among state-owned units, trouble is brewing at National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, (Nacil) created by merging Air India and Indian Airlines, with employee unions alleging that the management was backtracking on promises to protect workers’ interests.
Though broad changes in the managerial structure are yet to be ushered in as the airlines integrate operations, some recent decisions by the top management have shaken employee confidence, claim some insiders, leading to threats from worker groups that they will strike work if their concerns are not addressed.
Strong unions at the state-run airline, especially at the erstwhile Indian Airlines, have in the past had their demands met with industrial action.
“We were told after merger the best of both (the airlines) will prevail,” said J.B. Kadian, convenor of a joint action committee coordinating eight worker groups of Indian, referring to a promised post-merger adoption of better salaries, perks and policies at the two airlines.
“But, now, they are doing just the opposite.”
The scrapping of compassionate appointment—a practice of reserving a job for a family member of an Indian Airlines employee who dies on the job—he said, has caused widespread resentment at Nacil.
One of the top issues on the minds of the airlines’ staff is parity of seniority when the two workforces—a combined 33,000—are merged. Promotions are time-bound at the state-owned firms but don’t follow the same base year.
05/02/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Air India - International Feb 2008, Air India Budget Feb 2008, Air India Domestic Feb 2008, Air India Regional Feb 2008, NACIL Feb 2008