Flying high

BACKSTAGE

Before boarding an early morning flight to Mumbai from Chennai, George Abraham called Y E Reddy to organise an urgent general body meeting of the Aviation Industry Employees' Guild in Mumbai. Abraham, general secretary of the Guild, which represents over 8,000 employees of the national carrier Air-India, was clear about his plan of action even before landing in Mumbai.

At 12.30 pm, he walked straight into the general body meeting, with president Reddy in tow, and declared a nation-wide indefinite strike with effect from 1.15 pm on August 14.

The strike, demanding implementation of the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, comes at a time when the ministry of corporate affairs is slated give its verdict on the proposed merger between Air-India and Indian Airlines.

Air-India's management had no clue about the strike and claim the Guild's new demands were never raised during recent meetings with the government.

That's Abraham for you, the 50-year old trade union activist who was elected as chairman for 11 years by the International Transport Federation (ITF) for its Asia-Pacific region. "We intentionally wove in a surprise element into this flash strike, considering the importance of the matter and the lead time for the management to deploy temporary staff," he says. Abraham, however, argues the Guild has been very patient "" "Indian Airlines' PLIs were revised twice, while ours was pending. The Guild, known as a very pragmatic and reasonable union, was forced to initiate agitation," he says.

Abraham was dismissed for two years and suspended twice from Air-India for carrying out trade union activities. At 25, he was elected the youngest chairman of the labour relations committee in Air-India. He is also a member of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Think Tank Committee "" the committee was set up after the September 11 attacks.

Abraham insists he is not against the merger which is the answer to increased competition, but says the management needs to address employee issues before it takes place.

An avid footballer, Abraham is fond of Ayn Rand and Leo Tolstoy, and says he's just finished reading all major Russian literary works. "You should read this," he points to Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner, about life in battered Afghanistan.

Following the Guild's strike, Air-India is revisiting the suggested PLI structure. Abraham is readying for another round of meetings in case Air India's management rejects the new PLI which, he says, was worked out in a scientific manner after all-round consultations.