Air India sacks 7 more cabin crew

Total number of staff fired in past two weeks rises to 17

Hardening its stance against indisciplined employees, Air India dismissed another seven cabin crew this week for reporting late for work and delaying flights.

This is the second instance of the state-owned carrier taking such stern penal action against its erring employees. Last week, the airline had terminated the services of 10 employees who failed to report on time for duty.

A senior official in Air India told Business Standard: “So far, we’ve terminated the services of 17 of our cabin crew on grounds of indiscipline.”

Of the 17 sacked, around nine are permanent employees. While conceding the airline might face legal hassles for firing permanent employees, the official said that improving performance parameters of the ailing national carrier was a priority and that indiscipline would not be tolerated.

The airline had issued a notice on February 20 warning cabin crew that if they don’t reach airports on time to operate flights, penal action would be taken against them. However, there have still been instances of employees disobeying the notice.

“We have been making efforts to implement the flight duty time limitations (FDTL) notified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), but have been facing stiff resistance from certain sections of employees who are refusing to work longer hours. Employees unions are citing bilateral agreements with the management to block implementation of notified norms,” said the official.

According to FDTL norms stipulated by DGCA, pilots and cabin crew are required to work 35 hours a week or 125 hours a month, subject to an upper limit of 1,000 hours a year. However, the average working hours of cabin crew belonging to the erstwhile Air India’s All India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA) stand at 57 hours a month, while cabin crew of erstwhile Indian Airlines’ Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) work 68 hours a month.

According to the cabin crew belonging to AICCA, they would not work beyond 80 hours a month. They are also demanding a rest period of 72 hours after a long-haul flight compared with the 48 hours mandated under DGCA guidelines. “We want the management to recognise the agreement that they have with us,” said a member of AICCA, who did not wish to be named.

Sources also informed that the cabin crew had first-class seats for Boeing 777s, but in the Dreamliners, the same employees have been allocated economy seats - another issue that has been flagged by the AICCA.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION

* The airline had issued a notice on February 20 warning cabin crew that if they don’t reach airports on time to operate flights, penal action would be taken