Chennai: While there has been a delay in the payment of salaries of employees of national carrier Air India in the last three years, they have recently been put into even greater discomfort as the airline has decided to hold back 25 per cent of their salary as part of cost-cutting measures.
The airline is citing the report of the Dharmadhikari Committee, which has suggested a salary cut in the form of revised pay and allowance for the employees, as a reason for the adhoc payment in a notification to staff in January.
“We have been getting salaries once in 40 days or 50 days. The last salary that we got was for the month of February. The last productivity-linked incentive (PLI), which forms 80 per cent of our salary, was given for December month,” said an Air India pilot, who added that the decision to cut salary by 25 per cent was a shocking move.
“How can the organisation deduct salary for the period already worked. They should give a notice and deduct salary from the next month onwards. What AI has done amounts to cheating,” the pilot added. Another Air India employee said that the management had committed to pay the deducted 25 per cent salary. “We don’t have any written information but it will come,” the employee said with confidence.
26/04/13 S Sujatha/Deccan Chronicle
