After Kingfisher Airlines, it’s now the turn of debt-ridden national carrier Air India to experience turbulence.
Eight employees’ unions have warned the airline management that they would go on strike from April 2 on account of un-paid salaries to the tune of about Rs 900 crore.
Even though the Air Corporation Employees Union — the oldest and largest in Air India with a cadre strength of 21,000 employees — has come out in support of the management, unions representing at least 20,000 other employees have resolved to go on strike. The 1,600 pilots of Air India, who are members of the Indian Pilots Guild, have also stated that they would join the strike.
Mr P.R. Ravinder, the regional secretary of ACEU in Hyderabad, said that there were about 1,300 Air India employees in Hyderabad and of them, 800 were associated with ACEU and they would not go on strike. However, this means that about 500 emp-loyees will join the strike. “Every day about 20 ‘to’ and 20 ‘from’ flights operate from RGIA and that translates to about 8,000 passengers who will get affected daily if the strike goes ahead. This is something we do not want,” said Mr Ravinder.
On Wednesday, eight of the 13 registered Air India unions sought the immediate intervention of the Prime Minister to resolve the situation. The unions complained that they were unable to bear the “agony” caused by continuous non-payment of their salaries. Sources revealed that the eight unions announced that they will go ahead with the strike after a third round of talks with the management failed in Mumbai. Apparently, though the management promised to pay the wages, they did not give any commitment on the “long-standing dues” and thus the unions opted for “No Pay No Work” from April 2.
The employees alleged that while allowances were not being paid since November, even the fixed components have not been paid since December last year.