No union activity during office hours, Air India tells labour leaders

AI is considering steps to bring down the number of recognised unions in the airline

Air India has withdrawn the special concession given to trade union leaders to do union activities on a full-time basis. This means that about 15 union leaders who were exempt from regular duty will now have to resume work.

Air India’s industrial relations department communicated this decision last week through a letter addressed to the office bearers of Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG), Air India Employees Union and Air India Service Engineers Association. The unions have challenged the move and served a legal notice on the airline, asking it to take back the decision. The reason behind the withdrawal of concession is not known.

While Air India did not respond to an emailed query on the issue, a member of AIEG said the concession had been in place since the 1980s and periodically extended till now. Withdrawing the concession unilaterally is in violation of the Industrial Disputes Act, he added. George Abraham, general-secretary, AIEG, said: “There was no discussion with us. We were just handed over a letter.”

According to AIEG’s lawyer Ashok Shetty, the airline management is bound to serve a notice under the Industrial Dispute Act before making any change in any the service condition in accordance with a Bombay High Court judgment. This was not followed in this case, he pointed out.

Currently, Air India has 15 recognised and unrecognised unions. Union leaders from both narrow-body and wide-body fleet had been given the concession to do full-time union work. Air India is considering steps to bring down the number of recognised unions in the airline to two — one for pilots and the other for all other employees.

A committee headed by Krishna Mohan Sahni, former secretary in the Ministry of Labour, has submitted its final report to Air India, recommending modalities to drastically cut the number of recognised unions in the airline.

The recommendation was aimed at facilitating efficient decision-making during negotiations between the management and union representatives.