Air India Pilot body calls revised terms, conditions of service ‘illegal’

The Air India Commercial Pilot Association sent a legal notice to its Chief Human Resources Officer on Friday regarding the proposed revised pilot terms and conditions of service. According to the legal notice, members of the association were surprised to receive emails addressed to them individually from the ‘Air India HR Team’ on April 16 and 17.

For the pilots with 4 years of seniority as Commanders in Air India, the email sensationally announced “Congratulations! You have been promoted as Senior Commander, which is an Executive Role”

According to the legal notice sent by the association through advocate Bharat Gupta, the email went on to state that as a “Senior Commander,” members of My Client will be responsible for flying as well as management duties and will be eligible for a monthly “Management Allowance.”

Members were informed that they were’required’ to read the revised terms of employment carefully and e-sign the same by April 24, 2023, which was stated to be ‘for Air India’s records’. There was also a ‘postscript’ stating that the email’s contents were strictly confidential and should not be distributed.

According to the legal notice, contacting My Client’s member pilots ‘individually’ about the terms and conditions of service is not only unjust, coercive, and intimidating – but also illegal.

It also stated that, “As my client/Air India Commercial Pilot Association has impressed upon the management of Air India time and again, no unilateral change can be made to any of the existing service conditions of My Client’s member pilots without issuing a notice under S.9A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and following the procedure thereunder”.

“And in the proposed revised terms and conditions of service, there are several changes to the existing terms and conditions of service which are extremely prejudicial to My Client’s member pilots,” stated the notice copy.

Advocate Bharat Gupta for Pilot Association, stated, “My Client’s members do not want to be forcibly promoted to the management cadre and wish to retain their present designations and roles and coverage under and protection of labour law. The so-called ‘promotion’ is merely a smokescreen to remove My Client’s members from the category of ‘workmen’, and consequently from the protection of all labour law, and therefore, is utterly illegal and cannot be foisted on them unilaterally”.

Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Chief Human Resources Officer at Air India Ltd, has been served with a legal notice.
Air India announced a new salary structure for pilots and cabin crew on Monday. The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association and the Indian Pilots’ Guild have both spoken out against the ‘Revised Terms of Employment and Compensation Details’ and urged their members not to accept them.

The pilots’ union also warned that any “coercive steps or victimisation” by the company to sign the revised terms “will lead to industrial unrest”.

Following the announcement of revised terms and conditions, Air India recently stated that the new compensation structure for pilots and cabin crew is an effort to bring parity among different groups, encourage productivity, and recognise the managerial and supervisory role played by experienced pilots.

According to an Air India spokesperson, contracts reflecting the enhancements were sent out individually, and a large number of pilots and cabin crew have already accepted the new contracts.