Biman's VRS goes haywire
Saturday, 7 July 2007
FE Report
The Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BBA) has planned to hire more than 900 out of 1,863 employees who availed themselves of the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) or the golden handshake programme until June 20 last, sources said.
They said the employees will be hired on daily basis to keep the operation of the national flag carrier uninterrupted.
"The management of Biman will hold a meeting within next few days for assessing its manpower need," Mosharraf Hossain, acting general manager of (BBA), told the FE Friday.
Besides, sources said, the Biman is now working hard to pay the dues of the employees, who have opted out, soon after preparing a financial statement for full and final settlement.
"The Ministry of Finance asked us to send a statement in details on the dues of the VRS employees," Kudrat e Elahi, controller of accounts of Biman, told the FE.
He said they would send the statement by next week.
However, sources said, the Biman's operation is being hampered since July 01 after downsizing its manpower under the golden handshake programme by about 40 per cent.
With the hiring of the employees on daily basis, they said, the Biman will not be required to make fresh recruitment to keep its operation going unhindered until handing it over to a private operator.
They said previous service record and age of the VRS employees will be taken into consideration while hiring them on daily basis.
The Biman will actually require more than the existing manpower for resuming operation to its previous routes following the appointment of a private operator after converting it into a public limited company (PLC), they added.
Matin Chowdhury, a senior official of a local airline, said they are planning to meet the authority concerned to express their interest in handling the operation of Biman.
According to a source some local and foreign owned airliners have already expressed their interest to operate of the national flag carrier.
The Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BBA) has planned to hire more than 900 out of 1,863 employees who availed themselves of the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) or the golden handshake programme until June 20 last, sources said.
They said the employees will be hired on daily basis to keep the operation of the national flag carrier uninterrupted.
"The management of Biman will hold a meeting within next few days for assessing its manpower need," Mosharraf Hossain, acting general manager of (BBA), told the FE Friday.
Besides, sources said, the Biman is now working hard to pay the dues of the employees, who have opted out, soon after preparing a financial statement for full and final settlement.
"The Ministry of Finance asked us to send a statement in details on the dues of the VRS employees," Kudrat e Elahi, controller of accounts of Biman, told the FE.
He said they would send the statement by next week.
However, sources said, the Biman's operation is being hampered since July 01 after downsizing its manpower under the golden handshake programme by about 40 per cent.
With the hiring of the employees on daily basis, they said, the Biman will not be required to make fresh recruitment to keep its operation going unhindered until handing it over to a private operator.
They said previous service record and age of the VRS employees will be taken into consideration while hiring them on daily basis.
The Biman will actually require more than the existing manpower for resuming operation to its previous routes following the appointment of a private operator after converting it into a public limited company (PLC), they added.
Matin Chowdhury, a senior official of a local airline, said they are planning to meet the authority concerned to express their interest in handling the operation of Biman.
According to a source some local and foreign owned airliners have already expressed their interest to operate of the national flag carrier.