Air India's pilot unions on Monday alleged that working conditions are hostile at the airline and sought Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran's intervention to resolve the issues. Tata group took control of loss-making Air India in January this year. The two pilot unions -- IPG and ICPA -- claimed that despite its unflinching support extended to Air India in its growth and expansion plan, the management has not reciprocated in the same manner.
Pilots' bodies at Tata Group-owned Air India have accused the airline management of making unilaterally "rapid" and "regressive" changes in the service conditions of pilots. In a letter to Air India Chief Human Resources Officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi on Tuesday, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) also stated that "all unilateral violations of their rights and service agreements are creating industrial unrest and shattering employee confidence in the current management". The communication comes amid Air India reducing drastically the annual limit of privilege leave accumulation to 60 days from 300 days earlier, as per a source.
Citing various aspects, the forum has appealed to the DGCA to "withdraw the harsh punishment and suspension of the PIC". it said.
It could take between 15 days and two months for normal plying of government-owned Air India flights on inetrnational routes, said Tauseef Mukadam, joint secretary of the Indian Pilots Guild, which had organised the recent strike.
Divestment-bound Air India's pilot unions have rejected the paltry five per cent rollback in their salary cuts and warned of "industrial action" if there is no "substantial" reversal in their paycuts. In a joint letter to Air India chairman and managing director Rajiv Bansal on Thursday, the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said, "(The) pittance in the form of a five per cent decrease in the current wage cut is an outright insult, its sting magnified in light of our unwavering support and trust in this company." They said this "generosity" amounts to a reduction of about 3 per cent in the current gross pay cut for pilots. In April, Air India had reduced its pilots' salary by up to 70 per cent to partially offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its finances.
Air India pilot unions IPG and ICPA on Monday sought Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's intervention on the wage cut issue and also requested for an "urgent" meeting with him on several other issues. "In our meetings in September, you had given us an assurance to look into our grievances positively. "While other airlines are rolling back the austerity pay cuts for their pilots, the wage cut for Air India pilots further increased from October.
Air-India on Tuesday derecognised the Indian Pilots Guild with immediate effect.
Says pilots ready to resume work but civil aviation minister unwilling to reinstate sacked employees
The ongoing Air India crisis deepens further as it enters the fourth day on Friday and there seems to be no respite as the situation is turning from bad to worse.
The national carrier currently has 15 recognised trade unions.
. Therefore, it is now the government's urgent responsibility to end the impasse, restore confidence in the airline and its staff and allow it to continue with its recovery before it manages to sink it, once again.
Air-India and Indian Airlines have decided to maintain their services to Kuwait despite a directive from the pilot unions of both the airlines to its members not to operate flights in and out of the Gulf country.
Air India and Indian Airlines merged in 2007.
Nearly two months after the urination incident on its New York-New Delhi flight, Air India on Tuesday said it has closed the internal probe into the case and will assist the flight's pilot-in-command with an appeal against the suspension of his licence by DGCA as the airline deems the action as "excessive".
Disciplinary action against 45 suspended pilots would also be taken to its logical conclusion, they added.
Air-India has decided to further curtail its services to Hong Kong following a drop in loads due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome scare as well as a directive from the Indian Pilots Guild asking line pilots not to operate on this sector.
In a letter to Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal, the ICPA said, "In the press conference by Honourable Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri dated 16th July 2020, you had stated 'we are 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) noted.
While all flights to Western destinations -- Frankfurt, Paris, London, New York, New Jersey and Chicago will be operated, changes have been effected in the schedule of services to the Gulf and South East Asia.
The flights cancelled are to Dubai (AI 713), Delhi-London (AI 129), Delhi-Hong Kong (AI 310), Chennai-Singapore (AI 472) and Kuwait (AI 859). The problem is SARS.
Air-India operated 4 of its scheduled international flights from Mumbai while the management sent letters to the Indian Pilots Guild asking it to withdraw all directives about operations to the SARS-affected regions.
Air-India on Saturday announced a revised flight schedule from Mumbai for May 4-7, pending restoration of normalcy in flight operations on the withdrawal of directives by the de-recognised Indian Pilots Guild.
Air-India has temporarily suspended its flights from Delhi and Hyderabad to Singapore with effect from Monday due to SARS and the Indian Pilots Guild's decision not to operate flights to Singapore.
The Air India board has cleared a proposal for sending its pilots on deputation to its budget arm, Air India Express, which has been facing shortage of commanders for some time now.
The new owners of Air India will have to retain all the employees of the national carrier for at least one year post which they can offer a VRS. The gratuity, pension fund and post retirement medical benefits of existing and past employees too would be honoured by the new owner, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said. Tata Sons has emerged as the winning bidder for Air India with the government accepting its Rs 18,000 crore offer to acquire 100 per cent of the debt-laden state-run carrier.
An expat pilot with Jet Airways hurled "racist" comments at and assaulted a woman and also abused a physically challenged person on a flight, cricketer Harbhajan Singh claimed.
'There will be no flying unless the company pays us substantial salaries and provides a road map,' the National Aviators Guild, the pilots union, said in a message to its members.
Federation of Indian Airlines has appealed to DGCA to extend notice period of flyers from 6 months to a year
The national carrier has drawn a blueprint to cut the number of recognised unions in the airline from 15 to two -- one for pilots and another for the rest of the employees.
'When Etihad initiated their bid, it was conditional.' 'They said only if someone takes a 'haircut' would they be interested.'
The summer schedule of flights of all other domestic airlines such as Vistara, IndiGo, Air India and GoAir have been approved till October 26.
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