Chief minister Oommen Chandy has promised that the jobs of 40-odd Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) staff, currently employed at the Trivandrum Airport, will be secure and that no one will be forcefully evicted from their current positions.
"I had a conversation with Vyalar Ravi (when he was Union aviation minister) regarding job security of the AIATSL employees and I will take up the matter with Ravi again," said the chief minister during the Cabinet briefing on Thursday.
"I had a conversation with Vyalar Ravi (when he was Union aviation minister) regarding job security of the AIATSL employees and I will take up the matter with Ravi again," said the chief minister during the Cabinet briefing on Thursday.
The management of Air India's joint venture company, Air India-Singapore Airport Terminal Services (AI-Sats), had assured the AIATSL staff that any decision regarding change in employment would be taken only in consultation with the state government.
"The chief minister personally spoke to Air India executive director (south), Sunil Kishen, and asked him to give the staff two weeks to hash out a solution," said a source in the CM's office. Meanwhile, four AIATSL staff, whose contract ended on Wednesday, were asked to surrender their airport entry pass and to choose one of the three options -- to join Air India's new joint venture company AI-Sats, opt for transfer to one of the other stations or join the security department at Trivandrum.
Anticipating trouble from the staff after serving termination letters, the Air India management has sent seven ground handing staff to the airport from Chennai.
"We have been honest workers and we will not quit our jobs. The AIATSL staff have refused to join the joint venture company AI-Sats because they feel that the Air India management is cannibalizing the company," said an AIATSL GSD employee.
"Air India and Air India Express together operate around 4,000 flights per year from Trivandrum Airport and presently these flights are handled by AI and AIATSL employees at no additional cost. If AI-Sats is handed over the ground handling of these flights, Air India will have to incur an additional expense of Rs 10 crore per annum as the ground handling charges for these flights at Rs 25,000 per flight). No profit will be made by Air India and Sats is using old equipment belonging to Air India by not making any new investment at the airport," said an Air India official at the airport.
Add to that, AI-Sats has overlooked the eligibility criteria when they conducted recruitment at the Trivandrum Airport. The criteria for hiring for AI-Sats vacancies at Bengaluru airport were far more stringent.
"The chief minister personally spoke to Air India executive director (south), Sunil Kishen, and asked him to give the staff two weeks to hash out a solution," said a source in the CM's office. Meanwhile, four AIATSL staff, whose contract ended on Wednesday, were asked to surrender their airport entry pass and to choose one of the three options -- to join Air India's new joint venture company AI-Sats, opt for transfer to one of the other stations or join the security department at Trivandrum.
Anticipating trouble from the staff after serving termination letters, the Air India management has sent seven ground handing staff to the airport from Chennai.
"We have been honest workers and we will not quit our jobs. The AIATSL staff have refused to join the joint venture company AI-Sats because they feel that the Air India management is cannibalizing the company," said an AIATSL GSD employee.
"Air India and Air India Express together operate around 4,000 flights per year from Trivandrum Airport and presently these flights are handled by AI and AIATSL employees at no additional cost. If AI-Sats is handed over the ground handling of these flights, Air India will have to incur an additional expense of Rs 10 crore per annum as the ground handling charges for these flights at Rs 25,000 per flight). No profit will be made by Air India and Sats is using old equipment belonging to Air India by not making any new investment at the airport," said an Air India official at the airport.
Add to that, AI-Sats has overlooked the eligibility criteria when they conducted recruitment at the Trivandrum Airport. The criteria for hiring for AI-Sats vacancies at Bengaluru airport were far more stringent.
