Air India staff protest against foreign firm

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The decision to hand over the ground handling charge of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport to a foreign agency has sparked severe criticism. The staff of Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) have written to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to immediately intervene in the issue as the Air India staff have been urged to report for duty under this foreign agency.The Air India Limited and Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited (SATS), a foreign private company, have signed a joint venture agreement for providing ground handling services and the latter is in the process of taking over ground handling from Air India in most of the airports in the country.However, the AIATSL staff here claim that the policy is not acceptable at the Thiruvananthapuram airport since it does not come under the metro airports. In their complaint to the Chief Minister, the staff said that the Air India management has brought AI-SATS handling to Thiruvananthapuram airport before it has taken shape in the metro airports in the country.AIATSL, a wholly owned subsidiary company of the national carrier, had started ground handling in various airports in the country since 2003."Most of the staff working with AIATSL here have put in a service of three to seven years and are professionally qualified in the areas of flight handling. However, the Air India management is now forcefully asking the AIATSL staff in Thiruvananthapuram to resign and join AI-SATS,’’ the complaint said.There are also allegations that the Singapore-based company has started conducting walk-in interviews without announcing the vacancies or the posts. Undergraduate freshers without any previous airport experience are being recruited without any proper guidelines.The AIATSL staff have complained to the Chief Minister that the qualified,   experienced and trained personnel are being replaced by lesser qualified hands in the ground handling service.The letter have sought the urgent intervention of the Chief Minister since all the assets owned and managed by Government of India are being transferred to SATS. The high value assets of Air India like building, coaches, vehicles, and all other equipment are now being used by the foreign company by painting its logo on them.