Bloomberg
Yet another blow is in the offing for Air India – Bloomberg UTV learns that after the pilots, it is now the employees who have sent a strike notice to the management of the airlines over non-payment of past salaries.
Sources have informed Bloomberg UTV that the Air Industry Employees Guild (AIEG) has alleged in a circular that the employees of the airlines have not received their salaries for the last three months! The amount is estimated to be around Rs 70-80 crore. Sources said that AIEG has also alleged that the employees have not been paid despite revenues and load factor increasing. As last stated by Air India, passenger revenues for August rose to Rs 998 crore from Rs 889 crore, an increase of 12.3% helped by growth in load factor. Also, Air India has received around Rs 1200 crore in equity infusion from the government in 2011-12.
It is learnt that the AIEG had sent out a circular on December 30, 2011, where it highlighted the fact that it has sent a strike notice to the Air India management on the same date. The circular says that the strike or any other form of agitation that the union might resort to is to press for the payment of the past emoluments. It is also to ensure proper payment of emoluments going ahead. In fact, the circular says that the losses that the airlines accumulated over time is due to faulty decisions taken by the Government and cannot be attributed to the employees.
If the strike falls into place, it will be yet another blow to the debt-ridden airlines that recently heard from its Pilots Guild that has warned of another strike due to issues of disparity over pay. An Air India spokersperson, on their part, told Bloomberg UTV over phone that salary for around two months and incentives for three months are outstanding. The spokesperson also said that the management has received the letter and is working to resolve the issue at the latest. In fact, Air India has sent a letter to its employees intimating the same.