Repair India

It was a strike for privatisation from a most unexpected quarter. And it even delivered a fringe benefit in separating obdurate trade unioni...

It was a strike for privatisation from a most unexpected quarter. And it even delivered a fringe benefit in separating obdurate trade unionists from the economically sound within Left parties. This week, to make a pretty feeble point, Air India engineers did what public sector employees are given to do when they find themselves in disagreement with the management. They went on strike. To emphasise their inalienable right to hold union elections at a time of their choosing, they threw the carrier8217;s flight schedules in disarray on Wednesday. If passengers were stranded, that was probably the point. In the public sector, employees have traditionally ferreted benefits by holding the consumer to ransom. Alas, that ploy has already lost its sting. The high noon of nationalisation has long ended, and for the consumer it is now just another reason to consider shifting allegiance to the competition. And, in this instance, in driving passengers to other carriers, Air India engineers are simply diminishing their brand.

The anomaly is arresting. Air India and Indian Airlines are in the midst of an ambitious programme to upgrade their fleet and maximise returns on international routes. It still may not take the international carrier back to the good old days when it would take delivery of new aircraft almost straight off the drawing board. Legend has it that on occasion they even beat that most passionate of aviators, Howard Hughes, to it. Modernisation is palpable. But personnel and management are still trapped in a seventies trade unionist attitude. It is an attitude that belongs to the era of the licence-quota raj, with its excessive controls. It is simply not viable in today8217;s marketplace.

The CPM8217;s cautionary words to comrades in the CPI are therefore welcome, and give hope that pragmatism may prevail after all. In the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the CPM8217;s Mohammad Salim said the engineers 8212; who are affiliated to the CPI8217;s trade union 8212; should have desisted from striking and should have kept in mind the implications for Air India. This gradual isolation of blind trade unionism in the Left could have deep implications for PSUs and consumers 8212; all of them for the better.