Seeking the cooperation of Air India employees in implementing the turnaround plan, the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Ajit Singh, assured them that no jobs will be cut as part of the plan.
He, however, gave the example of Japan Airlines which reported a profit of Rs 12,000 crore in 2011 after implementing restructuring plan against a loss of Rs 120,000 crore in the previous year.
The JAL restructuring saw the airline sack 5,000 as part of the programme.
At a meeting with the recognised unions of the airline, the Minister assured the employees that no one will lose their jobs. Mr Ajit Singh pointed out that through natural attrition the employee numbers had come down to 27,000 now from 34,000 five years ago when the merger process was implemented. This was the first meeting that the newly appointed Minister was having with Air India recognised unions.
The Government is providing Rs 30,000 crore over 10 years as part of the turnaround plan.
Although the Minister did mention that there will be some “pain” in implementing the turnaround plan, there was no talk of a wage cut. Mr Ajit Singh also indicated that before implementing the Dharamadhikari Committee report, the Government was ready to discuss about its' implications with the employees. The Committee was set up to bring about integration among the staff of Air India and Indian at all levels.
While there was no talk about the agitation by sections of pilots at the meeting, the Minister did say that Air India was in trouble and pointed to how things were starting to look good for the airline in the past two-three months.
After the meeting the office bearers of the largest employees union, the Air Corporation Employees Union claimed that they were in favour of stopping payment of productivity-linked incentives till the airline was in a better financial health.