Earlier this week, all the recognised employee unions of Air India met to discuss whether they will take the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) approach or declare a general strike to protest against the privatisation of the national carrier.
Though, the employee unions are yet to arrive at a conclusion and decision will be taken after a few more meets. However, if declare a strike, it would start from 8th January, 2020.
Earlier this week, the pilots of Air India also wrote a letter to the management stating that their notice period should be waved off. The pilots and engineers also demanded their due payments.
Since, they were not getting paid on time, for their employment, the pilots and engineers argued in the letter that they need not stay bonded to the notice period. They were free to seek other opportunities.
This move came in the wake of a statement by Hardeep Singh Puri, Civil Aviation Minister that the national carrier will be shut down is a ‘matter of concern’ if it is not privatised till 31st March, 2020.
Currently there are 800 pilots as part of the employee union and 65 of them are serving a notice period of six months and soon will be relieved.
The national carrier carries a debt of Rs 58,000 crore and saw a loss of Rs 7,600 crore in the financial year ending 31st March 2019. The cumulative loss of the national carrier is to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore.
The Government is likely to give a expression of interest (EOI) to disinvest its stakes from the national carrier in the first month of 2020.
The disinvestment panel consist of Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and the Civil Aviation Minister.
