AI wants 'one craft, one union'

Air India has proposed a 'one craft, one union' formula for its 30,000-odd workforce, a move aimed to reduce its many staff unions and help in completing the merger of AI with the erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA).

The move is backed by the ministry of civil aviation but will require the consent of unions. For now, the unions are opposed, demanding the management first bring parity in pay and service conditions for AI and IA staff before proposing a single union formula.

AI has 12 recognised unions covering several categories of workforce such as pilots, aircraft engineers, ground staff and cabin crew, among others. For instance, pilots have two unions — Indian Pilots Guild and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA represents IA). For cabin crew, there are the All India Cabin Crew Association and Air Corporation Employees Union (representing IA crew but was derecognised last year for an illegal strike). There are several other unrecognised unions competing to seek a mandate from employees and negotiating powers with the management.

The AI management has proposed a single union for each employee category (one pilots union, one cabin crew union, etc). The industrial relations department recently wrote to each of the unions that it was essential to have a single union rather than different unions representing the same category of employees.

The letter stated that, "The HR committee of the board of directors has recommended that unions/associations representation of a particular category should be decided through the process of secret ballot to be conducted by an independent committee i.e. office of the CLC (chief labour commissioner).''

ICPA said it was not opposed to common representation but that could be discussed only after common service conditions were implemented. Said ICPA president A S Bhinder: “Even our uniforms are different, three years after merger.'' The pilots union has been agitating for parity in salaries and service conditions and even served a strike notice on this issue.

Air India Aircraft Engineers Assocation has taken a similar view, demanding common service conditions for all staff. “Pay scale and promotion policies are different for employees of the two airlines. Even the union structures are different. Indian Airlines unions have a regional set-up each. Ours is a national union, based in Mumbai,'' a member of the association said.

All India Cabin Crew Association is backing the management plan for a referendum to select a single union “We will ensure that one union results in collective bargaining and prevent exploitation of members,'' AICCA general secretary Sanjay Lazar said.

An AI spokesperson did not respond to an email query on the subject. A senior company official asked: “What’s wrong if we have a single union for each category?'' He said this would help in integration and industrial harmony.