MUMBAI, Feb 15: At a time when Air India is embarking on a path of recovery from the present financial crisis, AI managing director MP Mascarenhas has set the ball rolling by voluntarily surrendering his monthly productivity linked incentive (PLI) amount.Incidentally PLI payments, accruing cumulatively for all categories of employees amounts to Rs 150 crore, has been the subject of much discussion while talking of curtailing "controllable costs."
The PLI ranges from Rs 2,500 per month to the lowest employee to Rs one lakh per month for the aircraft maintenance engineers. Mascarenhas offer on this decision would help save the company Rs 21,000 every month. Others who receive PLI include general managers, directors and managing director. The PLI was introduced in May 1996 to shore up productivity in various areas on time performance and aircraft availability which helped the airline improve its performance.
The 13,000 strong AI employees guild has also become the first of the eight unions which iswilling to give up PLI (about Rs 60 crore), highlighting the fact that though the stake is the same for all categories, it is the low earning employee, represented by the guild, which has expressed concern about the health of the airline and volunteered to take it up with its general body. According to AI sources, it was for the first time in AI's history that the unions, at a meeting with the management last week, decided to make "sacrifices in whatever possible way to cut down costs" to help it overcome the financial crisis.
At least two unions, belonging to the technical cadre and the maintenance engineers, have so far remained non-committal but was willing to "consider any positive steps that the management takes," sources said. Some of the eight unions have expressed surprise that former AI managing director PC Sen was unable to present any picture or give any guidance which could have helped the international carrier improve its position.
Most of them have squarely laid the blame on the domesticcarrier which has eaten into its Gulf traffic. They recall that some of the lucrative Gulf routes were given up at the behest of the centre to help improve the bottom lines of the domestic carrier.
Today, the unions feel, that with a common chairman and a common board nothing was forthcoming to help AI but instead Indian Airlines was only making deeper inroads into its network. The airline during the next two years needs over Rs 2,000 crore, according to a presentation made at a board meeting last week, which could be achieved to a certain extent through the disinvestment of Hotel Corporation of India, a subsidiary, and private placement of bonds.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
