The cement workers' federation (INCWF) has said that the minimum basic salary at the lowest level should be at least Rs18,200 per month, up from Rs2,125 per month currently

Over 1.35 lakh workers in the cement industry are demanding an over 8-fold hike in their minimum basic wages from the coming fiscal year, reports PTI.

In a memorandum of demands submitted to the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) on Monday, the Indian National Cement Workers' Federation (INCWF) said that the minimum basic salary at the lowest level should be at least Rs18,200 per month, up from Rs2,125 per month currently.

The demand by the workers comes ahead of the expiry of a wage settlement agreement signed by workers and manufacturers in 2005. The pact is to lapse on 31 March 2010.

The workers have also demanded that the existing number of grades of workers should be brought down to four from 13 presently, INCWF general secretary N Nanjappan said in the memorandum.

Among the demands is an interim relief of Rs10,000 per month to the workers if the new wage settlement is not agreed to by June 2010.

INCWF also asked the CMA to commence wage negotiations at the earliest to cover “the entire 1.35 lakh cement workers of India working in the 142 functioning cement units”.

As per the requirements of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, the Federation has already served the notice for the termination of the existing wage settlement.

When contacted, a senior CMA official said, "The charter of demands will go to the CMA president and then a committee will look into it. We will decide only after that."
 

The airline doesn’t have money to feed us water on board! And SpiceJet has created not one, but five TV commercials

Till the recent past, low-cost airlines have been content with using below-the-line marketing activities. Which are basically emails, brochures and mailers. With the expensive cost of mass media, this route made business sense. And of course, there's the other thing: passengers opt for low-cost airlines to save money, so what can be offered beyond that? However, massive competition within budget airlines has led to a change of mind; now more and more of these airlines are choosing the television medium to try and build a distinctive brand image. Air Deccan and Indigo have already produced their TVCs. Now it's SpiceJet's turn to bite the dust. 

All very fine and dandy. What foxes me is this: Where do these guys get all the marketing dosh from? I mean, they don’t have money to feed us water on board! Plus the airlines are constantly cribbing about being short on funds. And they have been pressurising the aviation ministry for a bailout. Anyway, not one, as many as five commercials have been created by SpiceJet. The ad strategy used is rather interesting, it’s ‘reverse’ advertising, so to speak. All the commercials feature passengers who did not fly SpiceJet, and therefore lost out on the alleged freebies and add-ons the carrier offers. So in one commercial, a honeymooning couple is allotted seats in different rows. In another, a frequently flying dad brings home lollipops for his very pissed-off son, because he blew up all his money on flying. In another one, a broke dude takes his children on vacation to the same destination each year; he is always cash-starved as well. And so on and so forth. The idea being that had these sods flown SpiceJet, life would have been happier.
 
I actually like the strategic thought. Because this immediately ensures one stays away from the tired shots of staid hospitality, plastic air-hostesses and beaming passengers. And because the idea is unique, this should help the airline cast out a unique identity for itself in the airspace.

However, this opportunity gets frittered away because the execution and the story ideas leave you cold. They have played safe, and thereby killed a superb concept. Just imagine what fun situations could have been created; we all have our own recollections of the most outlandish experiences with flying. Once when I flew Jet Airways to Delhi, two rather angsty travellers had been allotted the same seat by mistake, and they were beating each other up all through the journey as the crew watched on helplessly, and I kid you not. Totally hilarious. In another airline, I saw two airhostesses involved in a massive verbal spat, a cat fight, much to the amusement of otherwise bored yatris. Featuring situations like these would have given firepower to SpiceJet's strategy. Well, hopefully as the campaign evolves, so will the creative.

In the meantime, here’s an idea for rival airlines: Create an ad where travellers are shown sweating their guts out and going topless on board (this recently happened on SpiceJet). Or where the pilot went missing, leaving the passengers high and dry. That too allegedly occurred on SpiceJet.

Yup, it's time airline advertising took wings! 
 

The last quarter of 2009 has again raised some hopes of revival of the aviation sector in the country. The bad patch is almost over and the sector is looking forward to make up now, the aviation minister has said

The aviation sector all over the world has suffered setbacks in 2008-2009 due to global recession, fuel prices and load factor but it will revive by 2011, Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Monday, reports PTI.

"There was a drop of 30% in passenger load factor leading to losses in many top airlines in the world including British Airways. But the last quarter of 2009 has again raised some hopes of revival in the country," Mr Patel told reporters in Nagpur.

The bad patch is almost over and we are looking forward to make up now, he said. Asked about the Parliamentary Committee's remarks stating that the decision to merge national carriers Air India and Indian Airlines was taken in haste, Mr Patel said, "It’s a baseless story. My ministry has already issued a clarification on the same day."

On the proposed maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities of aircraft manufacturing major Boeing in the city, Mr Patel said that the company was in the process of setting up a $100-million project soon.

To a question, he said that Air India will soon resume the Nagpur-Dubai international flight which was discontinued last month. Necessary instructions have been issued, he added.

Air India is in the process of launching a cargo hub very soon in Nagpur while Deccan Aviation has already started one from the city, Mr Patel said.