Air India has announced a new voluntarily retirement scheme. The scheme is for some permanent employees which include the cabin crew. The scheme doesn't include contractual employees.
According to the Tata Group airline, the new scheme is for employees who are either over 55 years of age or have completed 20 years of service. The company has also reduced the VRS eligibility age for certain cabin crew members and other sections of employees from 55 to 40. Besides, the management has announced cash incentives for those opting for VRS.
The latest move is a bid by the company to encourage a significant section of its employees to voluntarily retire. The Tata Group took control of Air India from the Government of India on January 27 this year after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.
Under the new scheme, Air India will give an ex-gratia amount to employees who apply for voluntary retirement from June 1 to July 31, 2022. Besides this one-time benefit, the company will provide an additional incentive over and above the ex-gratia amount to those applying for voluntary retirement between June 1 and June 30. An order issued by Air India's chief human resource office Suresh Dutt Tripathi said that the acceptance of an application for benefits and date shall be subject to management discretion.
"As an additional benefit, the carrier is reducing the age eligibility from 55 years to 40 years for cabin crew members who are in grades S-3, S-5, S-7, E-0, E-1, E-2, E-3, E-4 and E-5, clerical and allied staff who are in grades S-2, S-5, S-6 and S-7 and unskilled employees who are in grades S-1, S-2, S-3, S-4 and S-5," the company said in a communique sent to employees on Wednesday.
Since April, the airline's chairman N Chandrasekaran has rejigged the top management of the airline, bringing in senior and middle-level executives who have worked in other companies of the Tata group such as Tata Steel and Vistara.
Meanwhile, the Tatas have also started fresh hiring for Air India.
According to data released by the company in October last year, Air India has 12,085 employees of which 8,084 are permanent and 4,001 contactual. Air India Express has 1,534 employees. According to AI's last CMD Rajiv Bansal, all employees have to be retained for a year. In the second year, if someone is removed or retrenched, VRS will be paid by the company.
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