'Wage hike for Hotel Corpn staff not possible due to losses'

A wage revision for the employees of the loss-making Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), an Air India subsidiary, has not been possible in view of the company's losses, Civil Aviation Ministry has said.
"I have had the matter examined and would like to apprise you that in view of the losses being incurred by the company (HCI) for the last several years, it has not been possible for the management to implement wage revision," Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said in a letter.
He wrote the letter in response to a communication from Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah, who was approached by Centaur Hotel Employees Union president Javed Pandit for her intervention in this regard.

The Minister said since HCI was a loss-making entity for last several years, the Central Public Sector Enterprise and Department of Public Enterprises guidelines do not allow a wage revision.
Raju said the HCI units were continuously making losses for the last many years including the preceding three years, and added that these were "also not in a position to generate own resources" for meeting the funds required for implementing the wage revision for unionised category of employees.
The company has not met any of the conditions under the CPSE/DPE norms on wage revision, the Minister said.

The HCI's losses stood at Rs 40.47 crore in 2013-14 as against Rs 35.62 crore in 2012-13.

Besides, the Centaur Hotel unit in Srinagar cannot be considered in isolation as the company as a whole has to be considered for wage revision as stated by the DPE, he said.
Raju's letter stated that the Ministry has also apprised its position to a parliamentary panel on the issue in January this year.
Parliament's Committee on Petitions headed by BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to "shed its inertia" in reviving HCI and its flight catering unit Chefair or hand them over to the Tourism Ministry for better management.
In a report tabled in the Monsoon session, it has also recommended working out of a "pragmatic" proposal to bring the wages and salaries of its employees, which have not been revised in the last nine years, in line with the market.

The Srinagar Centaur Hotel Employees union had approached conciliation officer and Regional Labour Commissioner Jammu in this regard, who submitted failure report last year to the Labour Ministry. Following this, the matter has been referred to the Industrial Tribunal/Labour court for adjudication.
The HCI employees have been agitating for several years for a wage revision, alleging that salaries and allowances of their counterparts in the parent company Air India have already been hiked.