AI cabin crew threatens to go on strike

New Delhi: Fresh trouble is brewing on cabin crew front in Air India. AI Express had taken over 400 airhostesses and flight attendants on contract in 2005. They were taken for three years and the period was extended to five years. Now the 7,500-strong Aviation Industry Employees’ Guild has threatened to take “drastic steps” like strike in AI and AI Express unless their contract is extended.
Guild general secretary George Abraham has written to AI CMD Arvind Jadhav saying that since AI Express has expanded operations and is calling for new cabin crew recruits through some agency, there’s no “justifiable reason” to remove the 435 cabin crew employees on contract. “Over 40 cabin crew staffers of the erstwhile Alliance Air were absorbed by Indian Airlines,” said an airhostess.
According to DGCA rules, no cabin crew should fly for more than 1,000 hours. AI Express chief of operations Rajeev Bajpai has told all cabin crew members that “incidents of crew exceeding flying hour limitations have to light”. Staffers have been asked to limit flying to 1,000 hours to avoid strict action.
04/02/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Budget Feb 2010, NACIL Feb 2010