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New Delhi:
Any unilateral change by Air India within the salaries of pilots can be unlawful and has the potential to flare-up to a scenario of “unprecedented magnitude”, stated the ICPA, one of many airline’s pilot unions, on Monday.
In a letter to Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal, the ICPA stated, “In the press conference by Honourable Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri dated 16th July 2020, you had stated “we’re in negotiation with the pilots”, which is far from reality.”
“It was not a negotiation, but the “diktat” of the MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) which was conveyed to us. We would also like to place on record that the so-called negotiation was “not harmonious” in any aspect,” the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) famous.
Air India has proposed a 60 per cent wage lower for pilots amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has contaminated 55 of its cockpit crew members, the ICPA and the Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) had stated of their joint letter to Bansal final week.
“The proposed cut for pilots is almost 60 per cent of gross emoluments. It is hilarious to note that the top management has proposed a meagre 3.5 per cent cut on its own gross salary,” the joint letter had stated.
“Any unilateral change by Air India from agreed upon wage settlement would be illegal and will not be in the interest of our national carrier at this crucial juncture. Such a situation has the potential to flare-up to an unprecedented magnitude,” the ICPA said in its letter to Bansal on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Air India issued an inside order on July 14 asking its departmental heads and regional administrators to determine staff, primarily based on varied components like effectivity, well being and redundancy, who might be despatched on obligatory go away with out pay (LWP) for as much as 5 years. Moreover, it stated staff can voluntarily go for the LWP scheme too.
Equity infusion of Rs 500-600 crore yearly just isn’t sustainable and cost-cutting in Air India is important, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had stated on July 16, justifying the nationwide service’s resolution to ship sure staff on go away with out pay for as much as 5 years.
Air India had stated on July 17 that its monetary scenario could be very difficult because of the coronavirus pandemic and its go away with out pay scheme for workers is a “win-win” for them in addition to the administration.
The aviation sector has been considerably impacted because of the journey restrictions imposed in India and different international locations in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. All airways in India have taken cost-cutting measures comparable to pay cuts, LWP and firings of staff with a view to preserve money stream.
Air India has a debt of round Rs 70,000 crore and the federal government began the method to promote it to a non-public entity in January this 12 months. The nationwide service’s web loss in 2018-19 was round Rs 8,500 crore.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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