Taking a tough stance against agitating Air India staffers, the state-run carrier’s CMD Arvind Jadhav — in a communication to employees — said it seems employees have not yet understood the gravity of the airline’s financial situation and hinted they “...should be prepared to face the impact of harsh decisions that will be required to be taken in the coming weeks” to meet the crisis.
Jadhav was responding to the two-hour countrywide protest by the employees’ unions from 1 pm to 3 pm today against the management for not keeping its promise of giving salaries to lower grade staff (around 13,000 of them) by July 3. According to the management, the agitation did not lead to any disruption in flights across the country.
The management had earlier said that salaries for the month of June will be given on July 15 — a delay of two weeks. However, after Air India’s employees threatened to agitate, the management agreed to give salaries to 13,000 employees by July 3. Even as the management said it was taking them some time to see who was eligible and that the salaries would come in a day or two, the unions said they would go ahead and protest.
Jadhav, in a letter to Air India’s employees, said: “It appears that the gravity of the financial situation has not seemingly sunk in all of us.” He further added that, besides wages and salaries which need to be disbursed every month, fuel costs and bank liabilities — like payment of interest and re-payment of principal amounts — also have to be paid on time, failing which the operations of the airline could stop.
“Considering the critical financial state of the airline, we should all be prepared to face the impact of harsh decisions that will be required to be taken in the coming weeks to meet the current difficult financial situation,” he added.
As a part of its tough-talking strategy, the management has also said that today’s illegal strike would be viewed seriously and appropriate action would be taken, including deduction of wages and withdrawal of Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI) payment from those employees who had participated in the agitation, until further orders.
However, the unions are not ready to accept the blame. Dinkar Shetty, president of the Air Corporation Employees Union, the largest union in Air India, said: “It’s not true that we do not understand the gravity of the situation. It is Mr Jadhav who, by backtracking on his commitment, has lost our trust. He is not interested in running the airline.”
He further added that, while the management can deduct two hours’ salary, it has under the wage agreement no right to touch the PLI. He also said that the next course of the unions will be determined by what the management does next.
