Wage dowry in air for AI-IA family

New Delhi: The merger of Air India and Indian would turn out to be a bonanza for some sections of employees in both the companies. The government has decided to smoothen resistance from staffers by resorting to pay hikes for employees of one airline if the scales for the same grade are higher in the other company.
In effect, the wage bill of the merged entity would be higher than that of the two entities before the marriage. At current levels, salaries would constitute nearly 23% of the merged entity’s total expenditure.
The merged entity would have 32,832 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the country. As of now, Air India has 15,197 employees while Indian employs 17,635.
The government has said nobody should lose out while merging the pay scales of the two airlines, civil aviation ministry sources said. Therefore, the only option is to increase the salaries of those falling in a lower scale. To ensure that employees do not oppose the merger, the government has also committed that there would be no job losses.
15/01/07 G Ganapahty Subramaniam/Economic Times

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