The Hindu Business Line : Look into staff demands, Patel tells AI, Indian

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New Delhi Feb. 27 Ahead of the proposed merger of Air India and Indian, the Government has asked both airlines to look into certain concerns of the employees like wage arrears in a time-bound fashion.

"While there is broad understanding on the framework on the merger, there are some critical issues that we have asked the management to complete negotiations in a time-bound fashion," the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said after a meeting with unions of Air India and Indian.

Wage arrears

At the meeting the issue of wage arrears being provided to IA employees was also raised. The unions called on the Ministry to consider paying employee arrears despite the airline reporting losses during the period. The unions argued that there was a precedent for this as employees of some other Ministries had been paid such arrears despite the organisations reporting losses.

The Government also agreed to provide in writing the minutes of the meetings held so far. "We want assurances before the merger. There have been other PSUs where after the merger the assurances made have not been implemented. We have come away from the meeting partially satisfied," the General Secretary, Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Mr M.K. Pandhe, said.

The Minister emphasised that the Government was committed to ensure that the merger created a strong airline. "No worker will be worse off than what they are at present. The public sector character of the airline will be maintained," Mr Patel added.

Meanwhile, a section of workers of Indian has called for a strike from March 12 to protest against arrears not being paid to the employees.

An official spokesman, however, said the section calling for the strike was not from the legally elected body and therefore had no locus standi to call for the strike.

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