It is perhaps the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) intervention that may have prevented Kingfisher Airlines’ employees from going on a strike.
“We had not got our salary for the past two months. We were not sure what was happening and decided to protest. This is when the DGCA asked Kingfisher to pay the dues to the employees,” said Tony Kumar, an employee.
There was rampant absenteeism when salaries were delayed, he said.
“Of about 50 employees in Kingfisher Bangalore, at least four or five used to be on sick leave. At least four people are serving their notice periods. A few others have taken a paid leave to go to their home towns,” he said.
When asked why people didn’t quit Kingfisher, he said that the company is yet to pay them. “It is because the company has our money. Two months’ salary is due to us and if we leave now, we will not get that,” he said.
Despite the bad times, employees are confident that the dark days will pass.
Despite the grim circumstances, employees at the airport continue to wear a smile on their faces as they go about their work.
“All of us are together here. None of us is going to abandon the company and all of us have taken a united stance in this regard,” said Ashritha Agarwal, another employee.
“We are also hopeful that this will blow over soon and things will get back to normal,” she said.
When asked if employees were looking for jobs elsewhere with hardly any job security with Kingfisher, Lia John, another employee, said she has not thought of applying for a job elsewhere.
“None of us thinks that Kingfisher will shut down,” she said. “This is all going to end soon,” she added. Others are taking it one day at a time.
“We have reminders about the crisis in newspapers and on TV. We do not know what is going to happen. We are just taking it one day at a time.Nevertheless, we are hopeful that Kingfisher will get through this,” said Santhosh Suman, another employee.
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