Fresh from the success of two strikes by pilots of Jet Airways and Air India, the country’s 50,000 airline employees plans to form a
nation-wide trade union that will represent pilots, engineers, maintenance staff, cabin crew and ground handling staff.
The proposal, put forward by the trade unions of Air India and Jet Airways, is expected to elicit good response from the airline staff who face job losses and salary cuts, with the domestic airline industry troubled by losses looking to cut employee costs. Frequent cuts in fares due to cut-throat competition and high fuel prices have seen the industry’s accumulated losses mounting to around Rs 10,000 crore at the end of the last financial year.
“Discussions are already on. We will meet pilots from other airlines to form a national union soon,” said Captain Girish Kaushik, president of National Aviators Guild (NAG) that represents more than 650 pilots of Jet Airways, the country’s largest airline by passenger numbers. “The union will have representation of engineers, cabin crew and other segment of airlines employees in the long run,” he added.
The mood is definitely upbeat after the strikes that demonstrated the damage potential of industrial action. Jet Airways lost at least Rs 400 crore due to the five-day strike in the first week of September, while Air India lost Rs 100 crore from the four-day strike later in the month.
The country’s airlines employ about 2,500 pilots. Almost all pilots with Air India and more than half of those with other airlines are expected join the proposed national union.
“One industry, one union, that’s what we aim for. A single union at the national level will protect the rights of each and every employee,” said George Abraham, general secretary of Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG), a union of Air India employees.
The 25,000 employees of government-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs Air India, is represented by three unions, AIEG, Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG). While employees of Jet Airways and Air India have formed trade unions, carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, Paramount Airways, IndiGo and GoAir do not have any union at any level, although some of them have welfare associations.
Analysts tracking the industry said the employee activism is fallout of the downturn in airline business, which could see some airlines resorting to job cuts. This could further damage the prospects of the industry. The formation of a national union by airline employees is expected after the recent strikes in Jet Airways and Air India, said Kapil Kaul, CEO of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Indian subcontinent & Middle East.
“It will not have much impact in short term. But in the long run, it will have substantial impact,” he said. “It all depends on how airlines handle the employee issues and how they maintain industrial relationship after the national union formation,” he added.
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