Cabinet may take up Air India issues today

Dec 30, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

The Union Cabinet is expected to take up the issue of equity infusion of `1,200 crores from the Government to Air India on Thursday and could also examine a proposal for pay harmonisation and rank rationalisation between employees of the unified national carrier.

Sources said that till now Air India had separate agreements with as many as eight unions of the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India on issues such as pay packages and working hours. “But now that the airline is a merged entity, there should be just one agreement with the unions. The negotiations with the unions can start only after Cabinet approval for this,” sources said.
With different agreements signed with various unions earlier, sources said there has been a lot of salary variation between employees of the same rank within the unified carrier which has to be addressed. This is expected to be a contentious issue, with the airline keen to avoid any salary cuts as part of the rationalisation process. There could even be the possibility of the Government formulating a Golden Handshake policy to shed some of the excess manpower that the merged carrier has. Air India has about 30,000 employees on its rolls. The civil aviation ministry is strongly pressing for immediate clearance by the Cabinet of the `1,200 crore equity infusion, given Air India’s precarious financial situation.
The Cabinet could also discuss Air India’s ground-handling operations. In fact, top ministry officials were in touch with the PMO on Wednesday, ahead of Thursday’s crucial Cabinet meeting.

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