At the Manesar plant
of Maruti Udyog in Haryana, an agitation launched by workers unions turned
violent, resulting in the death of one executive and large-scale arson. Losses
ran into crores and production was suspended.
In contrast, about 450
pilots ofAir India agitated for nearly 60 days. No rasta roko, rail roko
or violence against management representatives. Towards the end of their
agitation, the pilots launched relay fasts.The agitation was supposed tobe over
but no one knew what was happening.
Clueless
Civil Aviation
Minister Ajit Singh and the rest of the management hadbeen claiming that
everything was ‘normal’ and flights were operating at near-full strength. This
was a blatant lie. The InternationalAir Transport Association pointed out that
theIndian aviation scene was dismal.Air India was on government life-support,
while privateairlines lsuch as Kingfisher were in deep financial crisis. Former
Union Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Prasad Rudy estimated a total loss and
accumulated debts of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore caused by costlier aviation
turbine fuel, highairport tariffs and the uncertainty overAir India’s future.
Also, the move towards
increasing foreign direct investments (FDI) in the aviation sector has made no
progress. If the situation is not remedied, much of the promised foreign
investment would not come.
In a logjam
Look at the current
situation. ForAir India, its Gulf routes were a gold mine. However, in the
current peak season (Ramzan, Onam and so on)Air India was unable to maintain
its usual number of flightsbecause of a shortage of pilots. As a result, the
Kochi-Dubai fares shot up to Rs 79,000, even higher than the average US
flights.
Air India’s winter
schedules were in a messbecause theairline obviously did not know how many
pilots wouldbe available to handle normal flights as well as those to new
destinations. As one crisis followed another, the Minister and his
advisersbegan to act as tough as John Wayne in an American Western.
Not a bit concerned
with the pilots’ agitation, the minister abruptly sacked Bharat Bhushan, a
no-nonsense bureaucrat who was the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA),
and shifted him to the Steel Ministry. His crime? Initialising a memo that
recommended strong action against KingfisherAirlines, which had violated
security norms and not paid its staff salaries for several months. His
temporary successor, Sukul, announced that the important memo had disappeared
and appeared to question its very existence.
Morale had neverbeen
high inAir India and went down further after the ill-fated mergerbetweenAir
India andIndianAirlines, the brainchild of the then Civil Aviation Minister
Praful Patel, who had come under criticism for giving away lucrativeair routes
to otherairlines, particularly JetAirways. The merger,besides opening old
wounds, created new ones.
The newAir India Board
was heavily biased in favour ofIndianAirlines. In 2010,IndianAirlines pilots
went on a strike, and within ten days all their demands, such as parity of
salaries, were conceded. Their derecognised union got back its recognition and
additional increments were offered.
On every issue, money
as well as promotion policy, there was a bias against theAir India pilots
despite the worldwide system that pilots who handled wide-bodiedaircraft were
paid more.
Hard times
They also had to reach
difficult destinations abroad and fly theaircraft in snow, blizzard and over
vast stretches of water. Nowhere was this bias revealed more clearly than in
the new promotion and training policies, which were highly erratic and
whimsical. As a result, around 70Air India First officers, slated tobecome
Commanders in six to eight months, were still languishing. While flying the
777aircraft, they were pulled out and sent for command training withAir India
Express Boeing 737aircraft.Because of seniority and red tape they had to cool
their heels for nearly two years. They went sent back for 777 command training
with a new syllabus and an extended training programme. TheIndianAirlines
pilots objected to thisbecause they feared such training would make their
colleaguesbetter qualified. Ready to exploit every avenue, theIndianAirlines
pilots would not allowAir India pilots to train on theAirbus A 320, which had a
long waiting-list.
Biased
Sharing this bias
formerIndianAirlines Human Resource Director Vinita Bhandari, who was sent to
inquire into the health of theAir India pilots who were on a fast, was clearly
told to ignore the health conditions of the pilots, who hadbeen sacked.
One mistakeAir India
pilots made was launching an agitation without notice. They were provoked as
the management walked out of the negotiations over major issues last May.
Throughout the agitation the media made issues out of non-issues, such as the
Dreamliner (newaircraft) training schedule to whichAir India pilots had agreed
without any qualms. Anchors screamed day-in and day-out about pilots earning more
than Rs 8 lakh daring to go on a strike.
Only the senior-most
pilots earn that much. Pilots globally are highly paid but Merchant Navy
captains earn more. MBAs fresh from college are snapped up for Rs 3-6 lakh.
Ajit Singh claimed
thatAir India could do without the 440 agitating pilots, many of whom worked
round the clock without privileged leave for long periods.
If these pilots were
not needed, why were they denied privileged leave? No one knows when all the
striking pilots wouldbe taken back or when the situation willbe normalised. In
the meantime, a lot of hatred, distrust and mutual contempt simmered among the
different sections ofAir India employees, most of whom had notbeen paid
salaries for months.
Up until now the
management hadbehavedlike the Baghpat khap panchayat to which Ajit
Singhbelonged. If such an approach continues,Air Indiacannotbe saved.
Issues raised by
the pilots of the troubledairline deserve an unbiased hearing.
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