Air India to restore incentives cut; a panel to look into pilots’ concerns

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai

CHENNAI, 28 September (asiantribune.com): Air India has decided to set up a committee to look into concerns of pilots, who are on a strike since Saturday, protesting against a 20 per cent cut in their Productivity-linked incentives (PLIs) by the management.

The PLIs formed a significant part of their monthly emoluments and the pilots claimed their wages suffered. By the cut. For the airlines, it was a lopsided wage structure with salaries and wages constituting 35 per cent of the total operating costs.

At least 33 flights, including international flights, were cancelled on Sunday, the second day of the strike. Thirteen domestic flights were cancelled on Saturday as several pilots reported sick. The executive pilots who reported sick are seniors handling management responsibilities in the airline.

As the agitation by the executive pilots entered the second day on Sunday, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav held a four-hour long meeting with different sections of agitating pilots in Mumbai.

After a meeting with agitating executive pilots, the airlines management decided to set up a committee "exclusively" to look into their concerns over the cut in their incentives (PLIs). "The committee, comprising Executive Director (Finance), Executive Director (Industrial Relations), General Manager (Operations in Mumbai) and respresentatives of the executive pilots, would address the concerns of the agitating executive pilots over the cut in the PLIs," Air India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava told media persons in Mumbai.

The state-owned Air India on Sunday agreed to restore the productivity-linked incentive (PLI) to placate its agitating senior pilots but they refused to call off their strike. But the pilots have demanded that they also be paid their three-months arrears.

The management has agreed to reverse PLI but they haven't made any commitment to pay the three-months arrears. “We will call off our strike only when the airline assures us of this," said Capt. V K Bhalla, who is spearheading the agitation.

The beleaguered carrier on Wednesday had decided to slash the PLIs of employees by 25 to 50 per cent as part of its cost-cutting measures, which sparked the strike.

The airline's current debt is about Rs 16,500 crore and its losses stood at Rs 7,200 crore in fiscal 2008-09 that ended March 31.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday condemned the national carrier's decision to slash the wages and PLI of its pilots and demanded the government's intervention in the Air India strike.

"The country knows that Air India incurred losses due to wrong policies of the government and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. It is ironical that instead of making the minister accountable for the present state of affairs of Air India, the pilots and workers are made to suffer," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

The party also demanded a white paper on the reasons for the present financial status of Air India.