Mumabi: Ashwani Lohani, an Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers officer, who took charge as the new chairman and managing director of the loss-making Air India on August 31, will probably face his first test in the coming days. This is because one of the national carrier’s pilot union, Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA), is conducting a secret ballot to decide whether to declare a strike against a recent notification by the airline management removing pilots from the workmen category.
The outcome of the ballot is expected to be known by sometime next week, and if the news is not good, all eyes will be on the new CMD to see how effectively he tackles the crisis. His innings, as it is, did not begin on a positive note. The day he took charge, the pilots’ union asked its members to stick to what is called ‘work to rule’, or sticking to flight duty hours and rejecting any request to extend working hours in case of a flight delay. This is because the pilots are miffed with the decision of the airline to put commanders out of the workmen category of the Industrial Disputes Act. This means commanders can no longer be part of trade unions and their service conditions can be changed and they will not be able to raise a dispute against their employers.
Even if Lohani is able to tackle these immediate challenges, there are important long-term ones, which would test his mettle. Since during his previous stint as the head of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, he did a creditable job by successfully putting the state on the tourism map of the country, there’s hope that he might be able to turn around the airline, a tough task considering that several of his predecessors have failed.
13/09/15 Rhik Kundu/Financial Express
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The outcome of the ballot is expected to be known by sometime next week, and if the news is not good, all eyes will be on the new CMD to see how effectively he tackles the crisis. His innings, as it is, did not begin on a positive note. The day he took charge, the pilots’ union asked its members to stick to what is called ‘work to rule’, or sticking to flight duty hours and rejecting any request to extend working hours in case of a flight delay. This is because the pilots are miffed with the decision of the airline to put commanders out of the workmen category of the Industrial Disputes Act. This means commanders can no longer be part of trade unions and their service conditions can be changed and they will not be able to raise a dispute against their employers.
Even if Lohani is able to tackle these immediate challenges, there are important long-term ones, which would test his mettle. Since during his previous stint as the head of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, he did a creditable job by successfully putting the state on the tourism map of the country, there’s hope that he might be able to turn around the airline, a tough task considering that several of his predecessors have failed.
13/09/15 Rhik Kundu/Financial Express
