PIA to start paying retiring employees by 24th

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees who opted for a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) will get their full and final payments by next Wednesday, the national flag carrier’s management assured a delegation of employees on Friday.

The PIA in December last year unveiled its detailed restructuring plan under which the airline would complete the process of shifting its headquarters to Islamabad by June 2021 while reducing the number of its employees by almost half.

According to the plan, 7,500 of the 14,500 PIA employees were to be laid off as per the VSS. 3,500 employees were to be laid off under the VSS in December.

Under the VSS, employees get hefty financial benefits. However, the PIA has not been able to pay full and final payments to these employees, causing concern among such employees.

On Friday, a four-member delegation of these employees met with the PIA’s chief human resources officer (CHRO) and general manager human resources.

Sources said the management assured the employees that the PIA would pay the employees by the next Wednesday. After this assurance, the employee called off their protest.

A PIA spokesperson said the airline has created a special account at a National Bank branch in Karachi for the sole purpose of making payment under the VSS.

“This account will be managed by the Accountant General of Pakistan’s (AGP) zonal office. The PIA will start making payments under the VSS in collaboration with the AGP and the Ministry of Aviation by the next week,” he added.

PIA restructuring plan

Under the plan, the number of employees for each aircraft was to be reduced from 500 to 250.Currently, the human resources cost the PIA Rs2.6 billion monthly and Rs24.8 billion annually. This reduction in employees was expected to help the company save Rs10.5 billion annually.

According to the plan, the dismissal of employees facing departmental inquiry for rule violations or poor performance was to be completed in January 2021. The employees facing forced retirements, however, will not be able to avail the VSS and will get a different package.

The non-core departments were to be separated from the core departments by March 2021.

After voluntary retirements, the flight kitchen, technical ground services (TGS) and engineering base maintenance will operate under a mutual agreement signed with private companies.

The precision engineering department was to be handed over to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and its employees would no longer remain a part of the PIA. The PIA’s courier service SpeedEx had already been closed and its 40,000 employees were to be laid off.

As per the corporate restructuring plan, the commercial, human resource, legal and flight service departments were to be shifted to Islamabad till January 2021.

The flight operation scheduling, medical, corporate development, works, and supply chain management were also to be shifted by the end of February 2021 while the internal audit, corporate secretariat, and finance department were to be shifted to Islamabad in March.

The engineering department would be completely shifted to Islamabad in June 2021 in the last phase.

According to the document, the mode of payment for OCS and TADA will also be changed under the cost-saving plan. The PIA employees will be linked to the government-issued health cards.

The employees would be able to get treatment at government hospitals as well as panel hospitals according to their salaries. The air tickets issued to the PIA employees would be reduced in number while their charges would also be adjusted as per the fuel prices.