AI wants 'one craft, one union'

Mumbai: Air India has proposed a 'one craft, one union' formula for its 30,000-odd workforce, a move aimed to reduce its many staff unions and help in completing the merger of AI with the erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA).
The move is backed by the ministry of civil aviation but will require the consent of unions. For now, the unions are opposed, demanding the management first bring parity in pay and service conditions for AI and IA staff before proposing a single union formula.
AI has 12 recognised unions covering several categories of workforce such as pilots, aircraft engineers, ground staff and cabin crew, among others. For instance, pilots have two unions — Indian Pilots Guild and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA represents IA). For cabin crew, there are the All India Cabin Crew Association and Air Corporation Employees Union (representing IA crew but was derecognised last year for an illegal strike). There are several other unrecognised unions competing to seek a mandate from employees and negotiating powers with the management.
The AI management has proposed a single union for each employee category (one pilots union, one cabin crew union, etc). The industrial relations department recently wrote to each of the unions that it was essential to have a single union rather than different unions representing the same category of employees.
The letter stated that, "The HR committee of the board of directors has recommended that unions/associations representation of a particular category should be decided through the process of secret ballot to be conducted by an independent committee i.e. office of the CLC (chief labour commissioner).''
23/04/11 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Categories: Air India Apr 2011