Thirty-nine first officers of Air India have written to the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Director General of Civil Aviation, protesting against the carrier’s decision to place them on contractual employment.

The co-pilots, who presently operate the Airbus A320 fleet, claim that the move was conducted arbitrarily and is in breach of the conditions of the offer letters that they were issued in 2011.

In the letter, a copy of which was seen by BusinessLine , the co-pilots said they are being paid an ad-hoc amount of ₹1.5 lakh gross (monthly) since October 2013 irrespective of the number of hours flown. The company is withholding their entitlements to force them into signing the contracts for fixed-term employment, they allege. 

The co-pilots have threatened to strike work if their demands are not met.

“This may be considered as a notice, that if our due monies and our confirmation letters are not disbursed to us within 15 days, we shall not be held responsible for any flight disruptions that may happen due to us not being available for duties, since we may be under immense mental stress…” said the letter, a copy of which was also addressed to top AI officials.

An AI spokesperson said contractual employment is in line with industry standards. “Today all carriers are taking young officers on contractual terms. The days of offering permanent employment at entry levels are clearly behind us,” the spokesperson added. The move also shows AI’s intent to cut costs as contractual employees are not eligible for post retirement benefits.

The 39 first officers were trained at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, before being given campus offers in 2010. Para 5 of the offer latter stated that on completion of training, the individual would be appointed as a co-pilot, on the pay scale specified therein. However, in October this year, the officers were offered the co-pilot post on fixed-term contracts, which they refused to accept.

Wage rationalisation has been a contentious issue at Air India ever since the merger of the carrier with the then Indian Airlines seven years ago. The unions — Air India Aircraft Engineers Association, All India Service Engineers and India Pilots Guild — are up in arms over the recommendations of the Dharmadhikari panel, which oversaw the post-merger integration of the workforces. AI pilots say they are being paid 25 per cent less post-merger and that if the Dharmadhikari report is implemented, the overall wages would further reduce with a fall in working hours.

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