Air India Merger: A Tale of Messed up Industrial Relations

The 2012 strike in Air India is not the only one. Perhaps it is not the last one either. The airline has had a series of strikes and is likely to have several more unless it can settle the issues arising out of the merger between Indian Airlines and Air India. The national carrier, christened NACIL, has faced repeat strikes in 2010, 2011, 2012, the last being the longest. The company and the Ministry have taken only the preliminary steps to resolve this vital issue, five years after the merger was officially done. Unless a comprehensive approach is adopted now to integrate the two erstwhile airlines, Air India&Indian Airlines, there is likely to be repeat industrial relations problems.