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ShareMumbai: The indefinite protest planned by the employees of Air India (AI) on June 30 over non-payment of their salaries has been called off after the airline agreed to pay a part of their salaries.
On Monday, Air India, the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) and various other unions of the airline held a meeting to discuss
the pending salary of the employees.
"The management has told us that they will pay the June salaries of around 10,000 employees in grade I, II, III, VI and the cabin crew by July 3," Vivek Rao, ACEU secretary, said.
The airline's monthly salary bill is around Rs333 crore. "But the wage bill of the 10,000 people amounts to just Rs4-5 crore. In our company, just 20% of the people account for 80% of the wage bill."
Meetings will be held on July 4 to discuss the salary payments to the remaining senior employees, he said.
On June 15, AI had said that it would defer the payment of June salaries of 30,000 employees till July 15 due to the financial crisis it was going through. The airline had, in fact, appealed to the government for a bailout package.
In response, the employees, who claim that the financial condition of the airline is of its own making, announced a series of protests. They had decided on a 'no pay, no work' protest from June 30 across
India.
"As the airline has agreed to pay our salaries we will not protest from June 30," Rao said. The spokesperson for Air India confirmed that the salaries of the junior-level staff will be paid by July 3 and a meeting will be held on July 4 to discuss the salaries of senior employees.
The posts
Grade I and II employees -- helpers, senior helpers, janitors, etc.
Grade III and VI employees -- assistants (clerical) and senior clerical staff
