De-merger alone can save Air India: Guild leader

Thiruvananthapuram: The sagging fortunes of? national carrier Air India can be checked only by cancelling the merger with Indian Airlines as well as all bilateral operational deals,? according to George Abraham,? general secretary of Aviation Industry Employees Guild,? the carrier’s largest union.
?“Over many decades, the airline had been exploited by unscrupulous ministers and Civil Aviation bigwigs. Ordering over 100 aircraft when loses were mounting and there was no money to pay salaries to employees was the best example of? this high-handed behaviour,”?? George told? Express while on a? visit to the state.
? “For some ministers,? Air India and Indian Airlines were mere playthings,” said George, who had recently dashed a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on non-payment of? salaries? to employees which was promptly rectified.
? George felt that mere replacement of those manning top positions without any change in the style of functioning would not help in lifting the morale of? the workforce of the airlines and its? clientele.? George, who heads the largest AI? union representing 11,000 employees, alleged that employees were not being taken into confidence by the management and increasingly sidelined while taking important decisions.? The new CMD,? a joint secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry,? is yet to take charge at the AI headquarters in Mumbai,? he said.
?A regular attendee of ICAO and ILO conferences, George recently made a presentation at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on how Air India could be saved from the current mess.
29/08/11 New Indian Express/IBN Live

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Categories: Air India Aug 2011