Air India, IA junior staff salaries deferred again

Mumbai: Junior executives at Air India and Indian Airlines will not get their salaries today. Going back on its decision to advance salary payment from July 15 to July 3, the carrier has postponed salaries for Air India staff in grades 1 to 9, and Indian Airlines employees in grades 1 to 3 and 6.
In response, airline unions have decided to go on a flash strike on Friday across all airports in the country.
“We came to know that the Air India management has deferred the agreed terms to pay salary at least to lower grade employees,” said a union leader with Aviation Industry Employees Guild. “We will protest at the airports on Friday.” The unions had been protesting the management’s earlier decision to pay the salaries by July 15. Air India spokesperson was not available for comment on Thursday night.
The National Aviation Co of India Ltd, the management company for Air India, has lost about Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09 and has a working capital overdraft of Rs 15,000 crore. Its fuel and manpower cost is about 60% of the total cost, against 45% in the case of private airlines.
The cash-strapped airline, which aims to cut employee costs by Rs 500 crore a year, has asked its top executives to forgo salaries in July to help overcome the cash crunch. It has an annual wage bill of about Rs 3,000 crore, of which Rs 1,400 crore is the performance-linked incentive.
03/07/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: NACIL Jul 2009