Labour unrest haunts IA again

8220;In spite of the excellent health of the company, instead of rewarding the senior employees for their hard work in turning around the airline, the lone member of the board IDBI chairman GP Gupta at the behest of the present CMD Anil baijal is punishing them for recommending two years reduction of their service with the plea that with this measure the airline will be able to save some more money,8221; the Indian Aircraft Technicians8217; Association told the Prime Minister in a letter recently.

The Air Corporation Employees8217;Union and the All India Aircraft Engineers8217; Association have also written to Baijal saying that as per provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, the IA management is not entitled to alter the age of retirement and any such move would be detrimental to the health of the domestic carrier.

Against a projected loss of Rs 16.44 crore, IA made a cumulative profit of Rs 31.20 crore which the unions say could not have been possible without the hard work of its employees, including seniors, who have ensured that there was no loss of man-hours during the last several years.

The Indian Aircraft Technicians8217; Association told Atal Bihari Vajpayee that it did not agree with management view that the move to reduce retirement age was to improve the financial health of the airline, especially when 450 new appointments had been made at different levels during the last two years.That there was a shortage of man-power in the airline was evident as Rs 2,040 crore had been paid overtime to its employees during the periodApril to November, 1999.

The Kelkar Committee had recommended 10 per cent staff reduction during the next 10 years. Even if retirement be allowed to continue till the age of 60, a total of 3,288 employees will retire by 2005-2006 which is 15.5 per cent of the existing strength in December, 1996.

8220;The retirement of employees at the age of 60 will automatically start in May 2000, therefore, there is no need to reduce the age to 58 years at this point of time and cause undue hardships to employees8221;, the Association said.The unions said the recommendation by the board was illegal and against Government policy. It said as per the Air Corporation Act, the IA board comprises 14 members. The present board is truncated and has not taken any major decision during the last one year. Only one member turned up at the board meeting, besides the CMD who was the mover of the proposal and took the decision to reduce retirement age.

The decision to implement the Government directive in 1998, raising the retirement ageto 60 years was approved by the full board then, to which the present CMD was also a party. The Government directive did not give any scope for reversal of the retirement age after it was accepted by the concerned undertaking and its service conditions amended, the associations said.

The unions said Alliance Air, the fully owned subsidiary of IA, had taken on 650 people from the market in various categories. If there was a surplus in IA they could have been utilised in Alliance Air instead of recruiting people from outside. The management of IA had mala fide intentions and was not giving a correct picture to the ministry, they alleged. The All India Aircraft Engineers8217; Association said if the retirement age was brought down for the engineers cadre it would result in an acute shortage of staff all over India, especially in the western region.