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The government on Friday announced that implementation of uniform structures for pay, allowances, working hours and career progression for employees of the loss-making Air India employees would start in 45 days.
Announcing this at a press briefing, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh made public the Dharmadhikari report which had gone into the painful merger of the two airlines, which took place in 2007. He said a core committee has been set up to implement the recommendations of the report.
Talking tough, he said: “This (employees' integration) is necessary if merger (in Air India) has to succeed, if Air India has to survive. The government is giving Rs 30,000 crore. One thing is clear. The government will not give public money any more to Air India.”
Uniform policy
Singh said there would be a uniform policy on working hours for the two airlines but remained firm that there would be no talks with striking pilots unless the strike is called off unconditionally.
On the issue of striking Air India pilots, Singh said the government was ready for talks but only after they returned to work unconditionally.
“The committee has suggested that both pilots and engineers, and also technicians under them should be given line seniority based on wide and narrow bodied aircraft for which they have been trained and licensed. The committee has also recommended that pay of all employees will be protected and allowances will be as per the guidelines with some exceptions. The Dharmadikari Committee has written about need for certain allowances which are given to certain class of employees like pilots, cabin crew and engineers as per the industry standards,” the minister added.
According to him, April 1, 2007, has been set as cut off date for new pay scales and also promised that senior employees won’t be paid less than junior employees. Among the recommendation of the committee include scrapping of the production-linked-incentive (PLI) for employees and pilots will get allowances according to industry standards after the Cabinet’s nod.
The Dharmadhikari report on integration of employees of unified Air India, including pilots, cabin crew and engineers, was submitted in January this year almost five years after the merger of the two state-run airlines.