A-I floats leave-sans-pay scheme

Barely had the aviation industry recovered from the shock of Jet Airways laying off around 1,900 of its employees, the largest layoff in Indian aviation history, that National Aviation Company of India Ltd announced its plans of cutting the flab in the national carrier.

Barely had the aviation industry recovered from the shock of Jet Airways laying off around 1,900 of its employees, the largest layoff in Indian aviation history, that National Aviation Company of India Ltd NACIL announced its plans of cutting the flab in the national carrier. A 8216;voluntary leave scheme8217; has been introduced in which around 15,000 8216;non-operational8217; employees of Air India will be eligible to apply.

Causing complete disarray in the morning8217;s proceedings of the two-day India Aviation 2008 expo, NACIL chairman and managing director Raghu Menon let the cat out of the bag announcing his company8217;s new voluntary leave scheme. Those 8216;non-operational8217; employees who take up the offer would be taken back into the company8217;s fold, if they so desire, at the same level of seniority and last drawn pay, Menon said.

Allaying fears of retrenchment by the state carrier, the damage control exercise began with civil aviation minister Praful Patel clearing the air. 8220;There will be no retrenchment of Air India staff. Certainly, the current crisis will affect growth plans8230;it will affect future employment opportunities which would have come Air India8217;s way if the aviation industry was in better financial health,8221; he said addressing reporters soon after the landing of the Airbus A320. A senior ministry official later admitted that NACIL8217;s employee strength needed to be pruned, especially from the middle to higher staff levels.

Giving out sketchy details of the scheme, Air India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargva said the scheme was still at the proposal stage. It would come up before the company8217;s board and that union leaders would be consulted before the scheme is launched. The entire process is likely to take 2-3 weeks.

8220;After the merger of two airlines Air India and Indian Airlines, the base of employees has gone up. Even if 200 employees were to go on a voluntary basis, there will be savings for NACIL,8221; he said. Under the scheme, NACIL employees can voluntarily apply for a leave of a minimum period of three years to a maximum of five years. During this period, they would not be eligible for their monthly salary. However, they still might be able to avail of some emoluments and benefits. The emoluments will depend on the position of the employee, said Bhargava.

NACIL has a combined staff strength of 33,000, with an aircraft to employee ratio of 1:1600. For the company, which had incurred losses of around Rs 2,100 crore last fiscal, the current wage bill stands at Rs 6,500 crore, informed Bhargava. It had introduced a similar scheme in 2002-03, which company sources said, didn8217;t find many takers.

Trying again?

NACIL had introduced a similar scheme in 2002-03, which didn8217;t find many takers. Out of 17,000 employees at that time only 300 applied

What happens?

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A-I8217;s 15,000 8216;non-operational8217; employees are eligible for the 8216;voluntary leave scheme8217;. Employees can apply for a leave for a period of three to five years. Though they would not be eligible for their monthly salary, they may be able to avail of some emoluments and benefits

What Next?

The scheme is still at the proposal stage. It will first come up before the company8217;s board for approval. Union leaders would also be consulted. The entire process is likely to take 2-3 weeks