Air India agrees to pay pending wages by June

Air India flight operations will not be affected from April 2. This follows the airline management and unions agreeing on a schedule for payment of pending wages to Air India employees by June. The payment schedule was agreed to at a meeting between AI unions and the management here on Friday.

Confirming the development, the Airline Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Rohit Nandan, told newspersons that all pending wages will be paid in a staggered manner.

Air India in a statement merely said an agreement has been reached but did not give details of the agreement. Sources, however, maintain that the management has agreed that by 15 {+t} {+h} of each month the salaries which remain unpaid currently will be paid.

Airline employees claim that they have not been paid for the last four months at least.

Earlier this week, eight AI unions had come together to form the Joint Forum of Guilds, Unions Associations of Air India. The Forum had written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, saying they will be forced to go on a no-work-no-pay agitation from April 2 if pending salaries were not paid.

The Forum decision to threaten a strike comes after it failed to secure any "firm proposal" from the debt-ridden national carrier for clearing their dues at a meeting with the management in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Indian Pilots Guild, Air India Officers Association, Air India Engineers Association and Air India Aircraft Engineers Association are all part of the Joint Forum.

Interestingly, the Air Corporations Employees Union, which claims to be the oldest and largest trade union in the airline, claims there will be no strike of ground staff, cabin crew and other categories belonging to the union.

Source