Air India is facing further disruption to its services as ground engineers vow to continue their walkout action in a bid to put their salaries on a level with pilots and flight engineers, while management is retaliating by threatening a lockout at the flag carrier.
A strike call by the All India Aircraft Engineers Association (AIAEA) to its 500 members in March forced the carrier to cancel a large number of flights, as some routine maintenance was left untouched. 'Ever since the agitation began, Air India has had to move more than 10 per cent of its passengers to other international carriers,' says the carrier.
A showdown appears imminent as airline management suspended 10 engineers and asked 59 others to go on leave for 'inciting' their fellow workers to walk out. And in an escalation of the stakes Air India chairman Russi Mody has threatened to lock out all workers to force the strikers back to the negotiating table.
The ground engineers, however, are determined to press their case. 'We have been quiet so far, but now we realise that unless we make a noise, our demands will not be met,' says AIAEA secretary SC Sibal. The demands include a five-fold increase in salary from Rs25,000 (US$730) a month currently to about Rs160,000 - about 65 per cent of a senior pilot's monthly salary. The airline management has countered with a monthly package of up to Rs70,000 based on unspecified productivity rises.
The engineers cite pay levels at Pakistan International Airlines, which has a similar fleet in terms of type and age, as an example of what they should receive. PIA offers its ground engineer 84 per cent of a junior pilot's wage and its senior ground engineers receive 66 per cent of senior pilots' pay.
The large differential between pilots and ground engineers is a result of a 1994 pay deal with pilots and flight engineers which included a dollar-based flying allowance. The pilots and flight engineers get between $50 and $107 per hour, depending on seniority, when flying on top of the fixed salary. With an average of 80 flying hours in a month, a senior flight engineer could earn a total package of up to Rs200,000 per month while a senior pilot could earn Rs320,000.
The ground engineers have been demanding a proportional pay hike for the past two years. Talks between the AIAEA and management began in 1995 and the then managing director DS Mathur was sympathetic to the union's demands until his sudden resignation. His replacement, the civil aviation ministry joint secretary Brijesh Kumar, opposed the increases and put talks on the back burner. And there is no sign of backing down by management. 'If the ground engineers' demands are accepted, others too will ask for dollar linked salaries,' says Air India.
Ravi Prasad
Source: Airline Business
