Enraged by the militancy of the 31,000-strong Air India staff union, the government is firming up an action plan to discipline the state-owned carrier?s employees who resort to frequent strikes to press their demands.
The Union Cabinet has asked civil aviation minister Praful Patel to devise a strategy in this regard. Says an official communication based on the Cabinet?s deliberation on this issue, which was reviewed by FE: ?The minister (Patel) should prepare an appropriate course of action to deal with Air India employees. He may consult the core group of ministers on civil aviation sector or take guidance from the Prime Minister himself.?
The idea, official sources told FE, is to empower the Air India management to tackle recalcitrant staff with an iron hand. This is considered necessary as frequent strikes, apart from causing financial loss, inconvenience travellers due to flight cancellations.
The cabinet meeting which discussed the issue coincided with the recent two-day strike called by the airline?s nearly 14,000 ground staff including highly-paid aircraft engineers who, on an average, draw around Rs 2.5 lakh every month.
Backed by the government, the airline management had sacked 58 employees besides suspending a few dozens. The strike cost the airline nearly Rs 12 crore in revenue besides damaging the brand.
Air India doesn?t seem to be in a mood to tolerate such frequent demands leading to strikes and this is apparent from its tough stand in rejecting the unions? demand to reinstate the sacked employees.
?If the airline takes them back, the company would lose the battle. Instead of helping the company tide over the financial crisis, a section of the employees has been reverse-posturing,? a top official who did not wish to be identified said.
The management met representatives of several employee unions on June 1 to make its stand clear. Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav is understood to have told the unions that the company had not taken any anti-union stand but indiscipline could not be tolerated.
?The union is there for a specific purpose. The company management cannot interact with all its 31,000 employees on a day-to-day basis; so, unions have the responsibility to take up their concerns with senior officials. Instead of doing that, they are running a parallel authority,? an official said.
Air India has challenged the union?s plan to start agitation to protest against salary delays and the reported gag order restraining employees from speak to the media. The company had last month said it will pay May salary by June 7 instead of the usual first day of the month.
A civil aviation ministry official said there was nothing wrong in the airline?s decision. ?As per Payment of wages Act, a company employing more than 1,000 employees can pay salaries in the first seven days of the month. In case of the company employing more than 10,000 employees, it is allowed to pay by the 10th of the month,? he said.