AI employees oppose JV with Singapore

New Delhi: Even as the Union Cabinet on Thursday deferred the proposal to allow Air India set up joint venture firms with a Singaporean aviation company for ground handling and cargo operations at various airports, the employees union of the carrier have come together to oppose the new ground handling policy, as also many other policies, on the ground that these would result in substantial job losses for the employees.
The new policy, which will come into effect on January 1, 2009, has allowed three entities to carry out ground-handling functions at six metro airports — the airport operator or its subsidiary, a subsidiary of Air India and Indian—now merged into National Aviation Company of India Ltd—and a ground-handler selected through competitive bidding process. However, full service carriers, which have already been doing ground-handling at airports like Jet Airways, have been barred from self-handling.
The Air Corporation Employees’ Union and the Aviation Industry Employees’ Guild, which have formed a Civil Aviaton Joint Action Front, are meeting in the Capital on Saturday to flesh out their plan to oppose the government. The Front, which claims to represent over 20,000 employees, has also said that allowing foreign companies participate in the ground handling operations also pose a security threat.
06/12/08 Financial Express

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Categories: Airports Dec 2008, cargo Dec 2008, Foreign Dec 2008, NACIL Dec 2008