The Justice Dharmadhikari committee, looking into the issue of staff integration and pay parity of Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines employees, is expected to recommend linking of salaries and allowances of airline staff with the department of public enterprises (DPE) guidelines.
Sources said the committee will submit its report by January 31 to the aviation minister Ajit Singh. ?There are two components ? fixed and variable of salaries. So far these have not been under DPE rules. While the Dharmadhikari committee will suggest ways to bring pay parity and service conditions it is likely to recommend matching it with competition,” sources said.
The country’s largest private carriers the fleet size of which are comparable to a large extent with Air India has an annual wage bill of R1,300 crore. As against this the public sector airline pays R3,300 crore annually to its 29,000 employees. Jet’s total staff strength is around 13,000.
“Air India’s wage structure would not see any drastic change. The DPE guidelines empowers management to fix salaries and allowances in the technical category,” said official sources. The differential wage structure of Air India has been a major issue in the integration of Air India and Indian Airlines. Pilots owing allegiance to Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) has gone on strike twice in the last one year seeking uniform pay package within the company. As per an estimate, Air India’s annual wage bill is 12-15% higher compared with rival airlines like jet Airways and IndiGo. The state-owned carrier is under pressure from the government to cut its manpower cost. A group of ministers (GoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has linked any financial assistance to the airline with its ability to cut cost.
The ministerial panel was expected to meet to review Air India’s performance and other key issues impacting aviation sector on Tuesday but it has been postponed. “The new date for the meeting has not been communicated as yet,” said an official in aviation ministry.