Multiple employees’ unions of Air India wrote to the airline management on Monday demanding withdrawal of the controversial order on a compulsory “leave without pay” scheme. They claimed that it amounts to lay-off and is “illegal.”
The five unions represent pilots of Air India’s narrow body planes, three different factions of Air India’s engineers and a group representing ground staff of wide-body planes. Their letter sent to the Air India Chairman and Managing Director was in protest against the order issued on July 14 informing employees about two kinds of LWP schemes being adopted by the airline — voluntary and compulsory. In the latter, the CMD has been authorised to send employees on LWP for six months to two years, extendable up to five years.
Details sought
The unions demanded to know the terms and conditions of the voluntary LWP scheme and rejected the compulsory scheme outright.
“We call upon the management to withdraw forthwith the said staff notice dated 14.07.2020, and hold discussions on grant of leave without pay to employees on voluntary basis, failing which the Union on behalf of the employees will be constrained to initiate appropriate legal action as deemed fit, and the management will be fully responsible for the consequences thereof,” states one of the letters.
The unions claim that the notice on mandatory LWP is “patently illegal” since the wages and allowances have been determined under various settlements which cannot be altered without giving a notice under the section 9A of the Industrial Disputes Act. They also claim that a Bombay High Court order in 2013 held that Air India was required to give a notice before amending any service conditions. Though this order has been challenged by Air India in the Supreme Court, the HC order holds as there was no stay on it.
In a separate letter by one of the pilots’ unions, the employees asserted that their wages were negotiated under the Supreme Court’s directions in March 2015 and recorded before it in April 2016. Its unilateral revision would amount to contempt of the country’s apex court.
In an order on July 14, Air India informed its employees about the voluntary LWP extended to employees from time to time, as well as a new move which authorised the CMD to send employees on LWP. A detailed procedure for the latter was described, which included regional managers and departmental heads identifying employees on the basis of suitability, efficiency, competence, performance, health, non-availability of employee and redundancy.
