The meeting with the minister and secretary of disinvestment has been arranged to lay all misunderstanding and misconceptions to rest and enable Air India achieve a better valuation. The management of Air-India too is inclined to ensure that this meeting takes place as schedule.

The broad agenda, which is currently under preparation to be submitted to the minister, calls for continuation of the bargaining rights of the employees. The agenda also advocates for the continuation of the same name and logo of the company.

The memorandum shall also ask for consultations with the union or guild on issues pertaining to changes in the service conditions, guild sources said. Under the disinvestment plan, AI employees are entitled to a 10 per cent stake, while 10 per cent would go to the financial institutions (FIs) and 40 per cent to a block comprising a foreign strategic airline partner whose share cannot exceed 26 per cent and other investor. The government will continue to retain its stake of 40 per cent.

The employees guild which is reacting extremely positively to the disinvestment programme is expecting total transparancy in valuation from the global advisors, JM Morgan Stanley. "We need to be kept informed about the developments and this not happening currently. The guild also should be consulted and taken into confidence since we are aware about the ground realities," guild sources said.The voluntary retirement scheme awaiting approval from the government may not be lucrative enough and the employees would prefer waiting for the new strategic partner to unveil its VRS scheme, guild sources said.