By Rohit Vaid, IANS,
New Delhi : Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi Thursday said that talks between his ministry and the unions of Air India were successful and the employees have promised full cooperation in reviving the debt-ridden national carrier.
“We had a very nice discussion today. The unions are ready to cooperate with us to bring back the glory days of Air India,” Vayalar Ravi told IANS.
According to the minister, cooperation of the unions was essential in reviving the airline.
“I understand their issues and have assured them that they will be resolved,” he said.
The two-day meet between the ministry officials and the unions comes ahead of crucial group of ministers (GoM) meet on Air India’s turnaround plan.
Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi told IANS that the talks were part of the process to involve the unions in the revival plan.
“The talks were held to understand the issues put forth by the unions. We have assured them that top priority will be given to resolve their problems,” Zaidi said.
The ministry is understood to have addressed concerns raised by the unions on issues relating to human resource policies, transparency in management decisions and timely payment of salaries.
Currently, there are 11 recognised unions of Air India, which has a work force of around 40,000 employees, including consultants.
Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a media interaction recently, said that he has asked the ministerial group overseeing the turnaround of the debt-ridden national carrier to come out with its recommendations at the earliest.
“I will request (Finance Minister) Pranab Mukherjee to take expeditious decisions in the matter,” the prime minister told a group of editors from the print media in an interaction last week.
Mukherjee heads the GoM which is looking into the company’s turnaround plan prepared by global consultancy firm Delloite and SBI Caps.
The plan envisages further equity inclusion, conversion of short-term loans into long-term debt and hiving-off the company’s maintenance and ground-handling arms.
The airline, which is laden with a cumulative debt of Rs.40,000 crore it incurred over aircraft acquisition and as short-term loans to maintain its operations, expects a fresh equity infusion of Rs.1,200 crore in July.