Hoping to streamline operations, Air India is considering cutting the number of recognized unions from 15 to two, one for pilots and another for the rest of the employees. The move is expected to ensure efficient decision making during negotiations between the management and union representatives.

According to a news report in the Business Standard a few of the dominant unions has endorsed the move.  An Air India official said that they are considering scaling down the number of recognised unions through elections to do away with the multiplicity of unions which often leads to conflicting demands.

Air India is planning to put in place a four member committee to frame the modalities of the elections. The committee would include a retired trade union representative, a retired railways employee and an aviation industry specialist.

Endorsing the plan of unification of unions, George Abraham, general secretary, Aviation Industry Employees Guild, the largest representative body of former Air India employees, said that they are opposed to the management’s proposal of three separate unions for engineers for Air India, AIESL (Air India Engineering Services Ltd) and AIATSL (Air India Air Transport Services Limited).

The pilots’ union demands that the airline management should first resolve pending issues related to bringing parity in pay structures and benefits extended to the employees of Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Approving of the decision Amber Dubey, partner and head (aviation), KPMG, said that the move will help prevent debilitating pilots’ strike like the one last year. 

In May 2012, the Indian pilots’ guild, which represents pilots of erstwhile Air India, went on a 58-day strike to protest against the promotion procedure and the induction of pilots from erstwhile Indian Airlines in training programmes to fly Dreamliners. Subsequently, the Indian pilots’ guild was derecognised by civil aviation Minister Ajit Singh.