Air India pilot unions oppose new salary contract

Air India's two pilot unions have asked members to not accept the new employment contract, calling the revised compensation structure as 'draconian' which may lead to 'industrial unrest'.

The Tata-owned airline unveiled a new salary structure for pilots and cabin crew on Monday, assuring the guaranteed flying allowance component of 40 hours. This, however, is much lower than the pre-pandemic period when Air India pilots were entitled to a guaranteed 70 hours of flying.

The term cost to the company for an assumed flying of 70 hours is 'deliberately misleading' and creates an impression of a generous compensation and accompanying benefits package, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association and the Indian Pilots Guild said in a joint statement.

The actual guaranteed money being offered is only for 40 hours, the unions said. Effectively, any time a pilot is on leave or is unavailable due to recurrent training requirements of document or licence renewals not to mention any sick leave, there is an automatic pay cut involved, they added.

"Air India wants to completely absolve itself from the responsibility of providing pilots with a stable roster around which we can plan our lives," the pilots' unions alleged. As per the company 'requirement' and in the name of 'business exigency', pilots are now expected to be on call 24x7, effectively on a perpetual standby, the pilots' bodies said. "So any family/social commitments or semblance of a work-life balance that pilots may want is irrelevant and subject to whims and fancies of company scheduling," they said.

Air India pilots' associations said that the revised pay structure seeks to supersede all offer letters. "Effectively you are asking for carte blanche to run roughshod over all the terms and conditions of our employment," they said.

"These terms and conditions are not acceptable to us and we will contest this travesty using any and all avenues available to us. Our member pilots will not sign this unilateral revised terms of employment and compensation. Any coercive steps or victimisation by the company against our member pilots to sign these draconian terms and compensation will lead to industrial unrest," the unions said.

The action of 'unilaterally changing service conditions' and 'thrusting new terms and conditions' is wholly 'illegal', 'unethical', and in breach of the share purchase agreement, the unions added.

The Tata group airline plans to hire 900 pilots and 4,200 cabin crew trainees as it looks to expand its operations.

In February, Air India placed the largest aircraft order ever to buy 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus for $80 billion, with an option to purchase another 370 aircraft. The full order of 840 planes is bigger than the total operating fleet of all Indian carriers combined currently. Out of 470 planes, Air India will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus — 40 wide-body A350 planes and 210 narrow-body aircraft. It will also purchase 220 Boeing planes for $34 billion.