Tata-owned Air India to hold town hall meeting after legal notices by pilot unions over pay structure

Air India B777-200LR

Air India, which is now owned by the Tata Group, is holding a town hall meeting to address the concerns of employees over the airline’s proposed revised terms and conditions of service.

The airline’s chief Campbell Wilson, along with all top executives, is expected to attend the Air India town hall scheduled to be held on April 25 at 1600 IST while Aix Connect, another Tata airline, held a similar meeting on April 22.

The meeting by the head of Tata group airlines comes just days after the pilot unions, Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG), on April 21 sent legal notices to Air India.

These notices come days after ICPA and IPG asked their members not to accept the revised terms of employment.

The Air India pilots have sought Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran's intervention to resolve the disagreement between them and the airline’s recently-announced work conditions and pay structure. The airlines are looking to address the concerns of the employees.

"Air India has been in touch with its employees over any concerns surrounding the new work conditions and pay structure. We are addressing the concerns of our employees directly," a senior Air India official said.

The stand-off

On April 24, the ICPA and the IPG passed a joint resolution stating that if any member of the unions is/are terminated by the management for not signing the revised terms and conditions, the ICPA and IPG have pledged in unison to go to “any extent” to protect the member till they are reinstated.

In the notice sent to the airline’s chief human resources officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi, the unions alleged that the action of contacting member pilots “individually” in the matter of the terms and conditions of service “is not only unjust, coercive, and intimidatory but is illegal”.

“Indian courts have consistently held that save and except in matters of termination or discharge from service of an individual workman, there cannot, in law, be any individual settlement or agreement entered into between a management and an individual workman, and if any such agreement is signed it is neither legal nor binding and cannot have legal effect,” the ICPA notice read.

What Air India says

Air India officials are confident of addressing any concerns of its employees and have said that a number of employees have already signed new contracts as well.

Regarding the new pay structure for pilots and cabin crew, an Air India spokesperson said the same “is our endeavour to bring in parity among different groups, encourage productivity and boost emoluments.

The managerial and supervisory role played by experienced pilots is also being recognised in the form of designating them as senior commanders as also offering them a special monthly allowance… A large number of pilots and cabin crew have already accepted the new contracts and the salary improvements and advancement opportunities they enable.”

Air India pilots have rejected the new pay structure finalised for them by the airline. The biggest bone of contention is that under the new structure, they are assured of 40 hours of flying allowance every month — down from 70 hours in pre-pandemic times.