TATA'S RUNWAY SUCCESS

THE PILOTS' UNIONS AT AIR INDIA THAT ONCE STRUCK FEAR IN THE HEART OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE AIRLINE'S POTENTIAL SUITORS HAVE BEEN GROUNDED. IT WAS A BLOODLESS COUP. HOW DID THE TATAS PULL THIS OFF?

- ABDUL HALEEM SHERIF

IN 2012, THE MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNMENT-OWNED AIR INDIA WAS DOWN ON its knees as the bulk of the Maharaja's international fleet was grounded for 58 days as the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG), a trade union of the airline pilots, struck work. Air India was estimated to have lost Rs 600 crore in revenue in this period, leading to the management sacking 101 of more than 420 pilots associated with the union. But within a year, all pilots, except 13, were reinstated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Eleven years later, in April 2023, the Air India management-now part of the Tata Group-faced another threat of industrial unrest. Fireworks were expected when around 1,300 pilots, belonging to the IPG and the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), its other union of pilots, announced that they would go to any extent to oppose the management's proposal to implement revised terms of compensation.

The world watched how the Tata Group-known for its harmonious relations with unions in different companies stood up to the challenge posed by the strongest and among the last surviving unions in the country.

Having taken over a company that had incurred accumulated losses of Rs 77,953 crore by the end of 202021, this new contract was a necessary step so the Tatas claimed-to bring a uniform culture among all airlines under the group's aviation portfolio. The showdown was expected. Passengers were jittery about booking Air India flights, and industry watchers from across the globe were excited to see the Tata playbook of dealing with an elite group of workers who knew about their rights and were not afraid of facing the axe to defeat the iron hand of capitalism.

But, in less than a month, even before the two unions could plan their moves in the game, the Air India management checkmated them, writing the obituary of a Nehruvian era's legacy that once invoked fear in the heart of industrialists in India.