Kingfisher revises pay of 50 trainee co-pilots
BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTMUMBAIOct. 18: Kingfisher Airlines has revised downwards the emoluments of a small pool of 50 trainee co-pilots. The airline had sacked 300 sta-ffers in September and they included 200 security personnel, 50 engineers and 50 operations staff.According to one trainee co-pilot, they have been told that they will have to attend office daily, but they will not be given flying duties. This is likely to last for a year.While the spokesman of the UB Group, promoters of the airline, declined to say how much savings this would mean for the airline, he said these trainee co-pilots will continue to remain on the payroll of the company and will also continue to enjoy and be able to avail full benefits and privileges that are available to regular employees of the company. These include medical benefits, travel privileges and other facilities available to regular employees.He said that the 300 workers who were retrenched last month were given a severance package that was over and above the stipulated requirement by the law.He said this was done to "help the airline tide over the ongoing turbulence in the aviation industry and keeping in mind the reduction in capacity deployed". In the last four weeks, the airline reduced its schedules and routes by 21 per cent.According to industry sources, the airline is said to be suffering a loss of Rs 10 crores per day, though the spokesman said that the actual figure could be 65 per cent of this. As of March 31, 2008, Kingfisher has made a loss of Rs 188 crores. This figure would be much higher when the September quarter results are out, according to sources.Sources did not rule out the possibility of job cuts in future despite Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya’s recent declaration that there would be no job cuts.ÂÂ
2008-10-18 19:00:00Madhya Pradesh to increase retirement age of coop staff
NAT50National/EconomyMadhya Pradesh to increase retirement age of coop staffBhopal, Oct 1 IANS Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday announced several benefits, including enhancement in retirement age for the staff of cooperative institutions. Addressing a convention here, Chouhan said cooperative fair price shops would be made multi-purpose and retirement age of personnel of cooperative institutions at all levels would be increased from 58 years to 60 years. He said a committee would be constituted for laying down uniform service conditions for staff of cooperative institutions. The committee, comprising of representatives of cooperative bodies and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development NABARD, would submit its report within the specified time limit, said Chouhan. The board of directors of apex institutions and central cooperative banks shall no longer be required to obtain requisite permission for granting service extension to their employees. Fifty percent dearness allowance DA of cooperative bank staff would be clubbed with basic pay. Fifteen percent interim relief would also be provided against DA. An assistant of the cooperative bodies would receive minimum pay of Rs.2,500 per month and a watchman Rs.1,500. The payment of minimum pay would be compensated by the state government from its budget. Cooperative institutions will have the right to make recruitment while a process of regularisation of services of employees working on contract, work charge and daily wages would be adopted on the lines of the procedure of regularisation of daily wage employees of the government, he added. --Indo-Asian News Servicess/ak/dg270 Words01101830
2008-10-01 09:10:11When some shop assistants, hotel staff go extra mile to please customers
INT47International/Society/BusinessWhen some shop assistants, hotel staff go extra mile to please customersSydney, Sep 29 IANS Some shop assistant or the hotel staff in the service sectors may go the extra mile in pleasing customers, even if it involves erring on the side of conscientiousness. So far so good. But when these employees use their organisation's resources or break its rules, do they benefit or damage the organisation Research by Queensland University of Technology QUT business student Cheryl Leo is shedding light on the types and motivation of employees who go out of their way to oblige their customers. Based on detailed interviews with 22 frontline service employees regarding their customer interaction, Leo discerned three types of what she described as "pro-customer defiance." "I found some employees will change the service delivery to benefit a customer, such as the travel agent who, when a client hadn't paid on time and had lost his booking, phoned around other agencies to find him a seat on the same flight at the original price," Leo said. "A second category is related to information-giving, for instance, an employee might tell a customer they could buy the same item cheaper down the road.""One participant in my study even hinted to a customer that his organisation wasn't acting fairly and approaching the ombudsman might be the best way out." Leo said employees sometimes used more organisational resources than authorised to satisfy customers, according to a QUT press release."An example of this was the hotel employees who took the car of a guest down to the garage and detailed it themselves using the hotel's equipment because they knew the guest was going to propose to his girlfriend in the car that day and no other car valet service was available." Leo said employees appeared to step outside the norm for customers when they felt empathy for them or if they disagreed with the organisation's policies and procedures. "Some participants expressed a feeling of righteousness in their actions. They saw it as a moral action," she said. "Some study participants said they did it because it was 'always right to help others' or 'if it was me, I would want to be treated this way'." Leo said her study grew out of the rising trend of customer advocacy where large organisations such as banks used an 'internal ombudsman' to champion the cause of customers: "I am looking at what is an informal sort of customer advocacy." Organisations needed to understand this phenomenon because while going the extra mile could increase customer loyalty, it could form loyalty to the employee rather than the service organisation and if the employee leaves, the customer may go with them, she said. "Employees could also risk bringing their organisations into disrepute or create service inconsistencies which unnecessarily raise customers' expectations to an impossible level. It may also be costly or unprofitable for the organisation." --Indo-Asian News Servicest/dg521 Words29091639
2008-09-29 07:03:18Conflicts, rifts cast shadow over Malayalam film industry
ENT3Entertainment/Showbiz/CinemaConflicts, rifts cast shadow over Malayalam film industryBy Ayyappa PrasadChennai, Sep 29 IANS Film technicians are fighting with one another, producers and exhibitors are at loggerheads - differences of opinion between various film bodies have cast a shadow over the Malayalam film industry. And if the problems persist, movies worth Rs.1.8 billion will get stuck, say industry watchers."Former Malayalam Cine Technicians Association MACTA president Vinayan and three other office-bearers were declared persona non grata by the Film Employees Federation of South India FEFSI following his allegations suggesting backdoor machinations by the body," a MACTA official told IANS.FEFSI president S.Vijayan postponed the MACTA elections in August, alleging that Vinayan had made a faulty voters' list. Vinayan obtained a precautionary court stay against the poll."Several leading lights of the Malayalam industry called MACTA as the personal fiefdom of Vinayan - following his autocratic handling of director Siddique who had attempted to discipline errant actors and have deserted it," a FEFSI official said.Said producer-director-actor Balachandra Menon: "No creative person can be fettered by trade unions as every creator is an entity unto himself. Yet, there is a discernible trend to form groups and clash with similar entities in the industry - a totally strange phenomenon."While these attempts at one-upmanship may upset shooting schedules, producer-exhibitor skirmishes add to the problem.Demands by a body of exhibitors in Kerala to stagger fresh releases - screening them in major cities first and bringing the same prints to rural areas later - has met with stiff opposition from producers who think that the move will only benefit DVD pirates.A spokesman of Kokers, a leading exhibitor, felt the distribution system enforced by the producers left them in dire straits."Only 48 theatres in the state pay advance money to producers. The screening rights should be given to them first and the prints should reach rural areas only when it has collected on the initial thrust," he said on phone from Kochi.The theatres that cough up money in advance are feeling the pinch owing to a 48 percent entertainment tax and the ever-growing queue of flops in Malayalam."The 900-odd cinemas are facing a grim future," the spokesman added."The move will only benefit pirates who will flood the market with VCDs and DVDs, killing a sizeable portion of the market and resulting in huge losses," the Kerala Film Producers' Association said in a statement as a response.If the row persists, projects worth at least Rs.1.8 billion could get stuck. It includes big budget films starring superstars like Mohanlal and Mammootty."Pazhassi Raja", a costume drama starring Mammootty, is being made at a budget of Rs.500 million, while Mohanlal starrer "Kurukshetra" is a Rs.200-million movie. Another Mammootty film "Mayabazar" has a budget of Rs.210 million.Superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal command a price of Rs.15 million and allocate a maximum shooting period of 60 days per film.Apart from this, seven films are in the making with stars like Suresh Gopi, Dilip and Prithiviraj. Each project's budget is around Rs.100 million.To combat the flops coupled with the stifling 48 percent entertainment tax and film body conflicts, exhibitors' associations have announced that they would fund small budget films around Rs.15 million if released on time."Though the move is bound to encourage producers to make movies with fresh faces, the trend is not encouraging. Even in the absence of superstar releases during the recent Onam festival in Kerala, two Prithiviraj starrers and a Suresh Gopi film sank without a trace though they had the potential of mopping up close to Rs.200 million," said film critic R. Parameshwaran.--Indo-Asian News Serviceap/tsv/ar/mv668 Words**29090916
2008-09-29 00:03:08Hard To Beat Workin' On This Railroad
The New York Times says that its analysis of data from the Railroad Retirement Board found that "virtually every employee" retiring from the Long Island Rail Road after age 50 in recent years has received federal disability benefits.
2008-09-23 03:00:00Lower-income employees to benefit: Infosys
Infosys Technologies which has just taken biggest-ever group life insurance policy will particularly benefit employees from lower-income groups from non-metros.
2008-09-11 16:03:05The discounting treadmill
It looks like General Motors is stuck on the discount treadmill. Bloomberg reported today that GM will extend its employee pricing program for all consumers for another month. The offer was set to expire on Sept. 2. With sales in the tank, all carmakers need to goose sales somehow. But going long with come-ons like rebates, employee pricing and 0% financing is a slippery slope. It’s easy for a carmaker to rely on discounts and tough to get off them. GM complains about $1,600 a car in retiree benefits costs. But giving away more than $3,000 a vehicle in incentives is a bigger hit to the bottom line. It can get pricey for GM. According to the company’s website, employee pricing cuts a little more than $2,100 off the sticker of a well-equipped Chevrolet Malibu LTZ for a sale price of $25,600. But then you can add in a $1,000 rebate for the Malibu and the discount climbs above $3,000. Discounts are bigger for more expensive models. A top-of-the-line, $48,000 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 sells with a $5,000 discount. Add in the $2,000 rebate and the truck sells for $41,000. The big offers just add to GM’s marketing quandary. All of the domestic auto makers have been trying to get better pricing and cut discounts. They need to conserve cash in the near term and in the long run, convince buyers that their dealerships aren’t just bargain shops. GM and rival Ford were trying to scale back a bit on incentives and even sneaked in a few price hikes over the past couple of years. Massive production cuts helped them pull back somewhat. But a weak market and plummeting popularity for their best models—trucks and suvs--has reset the clock. It will take a long time for Detroit to prove that they can really sell cars based on their merits instead of the deal.
2008-09-10 16:34:09Lost prison staff data may cost UK government millions
London, Sept.8 ANI: The loss of a computer disc carrying sensitive details of thousands of prison service employees is likely to cost British taxpayers millions of pounds.The country's Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, has ordered an urgent inquiry after it was revealed that the hard drive was reported missing in July. e has also demanded to be told why he was not informed in time about the incident that occurred in July 2007.In a statement, Straw said: "I am extremely concerned about this missing data. I was informed of its loss at lunch-time today Saturday and have ordered an urgent inquiry into the circumstances and the implications of the data loss and the level of risk involved. I have also asked for a report as to why I was not informed as soon as my department became aware of this issue."US firm Electronic Data Systems EDS has admitted to losing data containing the names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and prison service numbers of up to 5,000 employees of the National Offender Management Service. The incident is the latest in a string of data losses to embarrass the Government, including the disappearance last October of two computer discs containing personal details of 25 million child benefit claimants. The Prison Officers' Association said the loss, which it had not been informed about, could end up costing the taxpayer millions of pounds. National chairman Colin Moses said: "We are extremely concerned that not only has this data been lost, but that the Prison Service appear to have tried to conceal this serious breach in security." "It is a breach that we believe could ultimately cost the taxpayer millions and millions of pounds, because, if the information lost is personal and sensitive, it may well mean staff having to move prisons, move homes and relocate their families," he added.ANI
2008-09-08 07:00:11NH Local Government Center worker arrested
A worker at the New Hampshire Local Government Center, which administers benefit plans for public employees, has been charged with four computer-related crimes.
2008-09-06 00:22:06Tanzania: JK Urged to Separate Energy And Minerals
Former East African Community employees stage a sit-in at the StHouse main entrance in Dar es Salaam yesterday. They were seeking audience with President Jakaya Kikwete over their terminal benefits claims. PHOTO/SALHIM SHAO
2008-09-05 11:44:17
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