National Flag Carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to reduce its workforce by 50 percent and divide itself into a core and non-core business.
ProPakistani obtained the documents of the business plan which shows that the management of PIA will reduce workforce by giving voluntary retirement scheme or Golden Shake Hand. In both schemes, employees will be given onetime payment to settle all dues. These employees will not be entitled to pension, medical and free air tickets.
This business plan was approved by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and is now under consideration by the Ministry of Finance. Finance Ministry is evaluating the financial impact of this business plan and the money PIA has demanded to implement it.
In PIA business plan management says that currently, PIA employment is 18000 which is very high. With this number, the airline will not produce profits. PIA at least reduced 8000 employees and will bring the total employment down to 10000.
In the business plan, PIA has suggested that the airline be divided into 2 parts; core business and non-core business. With this division, almost 5 thousand employees will be out of PIA pay structure.
In non-core business, PIA will separate Engineering, Food services/ Flight Kitchen, Technical Ground Support, Printing Press, Cabin Cleaning. These departments will become separate companies.
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In core business, PIA will have Aircrafts, Flight Operations, Safety, Marketing, Passenger Handling,
It’s worth mentioning that PIA employees are very active in anti privatization campaigns. In Feb 2016, all trade unions, under the leadership of Peoples Unity which is a wing of Pakistan People’s Party, protested against privatization. During protests, 2 employees were killed and several others were injured. For several days, PIA operations came to as halt.
In the most recent referendum, Peoples Unity won again and became the combined bargaining agent (CBA). If the airline management announces its plan for downsizing, we expect tensions to rise again and flight operations could be affected.
On the other hand, PIA management has taken the Pilots Association (PALPA) in confidence and since they are a part of core business module, they will likely not join protests against the plan.