Air India (AI) unions are meeting Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Arvind Jadhav and independent directors on Sunday to discuss a turnaround plan.
The airline’s management had assured in early June that the draft of the turnaround plan would be shared with unions and their suggestions would be looked at. Arvind Jadhav had assured the unions of a one-on-one meeting.
A union member said, “We have been called for a meeting with the CMD and the four independent directors at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon. Discussion on the turnaround plan is the agenda, along with the financial situation of the carrier.”
“We also want to discuss the status of the human resource (HR) policy to deal with employees and employer relations, that was to be introduced by the management.”
Another member said the turnaround draft would be shared by the management with the unions at the meeting.
In early April, the new AI board, with four independent members, had asked the management to prepare a turnaround plan in 30 days. The board had also decided to form four committees to look into human resources, finance, audit and strategic issues.
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The four independent board members are Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, Amit Mitra, secretary general of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, industrialist Harsh Neotia and retired Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major. They have a tenure of three years.
The five-year (2010-14) plan was reviewed late June at the carrier’s board meeting, in the presence of civil aviation minister Praful Patel. The plan is expected to look at ways of enhancing revenue and reducing expenditure in a phased manner. The National Aviation Company of India Ltd, which operates the Air India brand, made an estimated loss of Rs 5,400 crore in 2009-10.
Another meeting taking place on Saturday has Terminal 3 (T3) of Delhi International Airport (DIAL) on its agenda.
A union member, who did not wish to be identified, said, “We had written a letter to the CMD requesting a meeting to gain some clarity on the issue of 70 per cent of the carriers’ operations being shifted to T3. We were assured that there would be no loss of jobs, but we want to know what is the situation on transfers.”
“About 1,200 people are expected to be hired and we can expect a major shift in operations to begin from the winter schedule around the time of the Commonwealth Games, maybe from October onwards.”
Dinakar Shetty, president, Air Corporation Employees Union, said, “I am aware of the meeting happening on 24th, but Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) and the All India Aircraft Engineers Association (AIAEA) have not been called for the meeting. No information on the agenda has been shared with us.”
ACEU and AIAEA were derecognised in May following the flash strike that the unions had resorted to after the Mangalore crash.