While about 5,000 Air India employees were to retire in the next five years, the airline rolled out a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for some permanent employees - including cabin crew for the first time ever in AI’s history. The VRS scheme is for employees who are either over 55 years of age or have completed two decades of service. For certain cabin crew members and some grades of clerical and unskilled employees, the age to opt for VRS has also been relaxed to 40 years.
“An ex gratia amount will also be provided to employees who apply for voluntary retirement from June 1 to July 31, 2022, as a one-time benefit. (Those doing so) will also receive an additional incentive over and above the ex gratia amount,” says the order issued by AI’s chief human resource officer, Suresh Dutt Tripathi, a Tata Steel veteran brought in by the group after taking over the Maharaja.
The order further says that “The acceptance of your application for (these) benefits and the date of release shall be subject to management discretion.”
The Tatas have now also started fresh hiring for Air India. Even under government ownership in the last two years, AI had rolled out a VRS for some of its employees. The unions are questioning this move on the grounds that AI's new owners have to retain employees for a certain time as per the terms of sale. Whether rolling out a voluntary scheme violates the same remains to be seen.
