AI employees call off proposed strike

The decision by the unions to call off their ‘no pay,no work’ agitation came after management team,led by Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav,held a day-long meeting with union representatives in Mumbai today. The meeting followed several rounds of negotiations last week. The three unions AIEG,Air Corporation Employees Union and Indian Aircraft Technician’s Association were protesting the management’s decision to defer payment of salaries by 15 days.

Under the settlement reached today,the employees from Grade I to Grade IX check-in staff,baggage handlers,security assistants and guards would get their salaries by July 3,Deka said. For the supervisor categories and beyond (Grade

10-25),another round of meeting would be held on July 4,Deka said. About 24,000 Air India employees,belonging to the three unions,were protesting the management’s decision to defer the payments of their June salaries by a fortnight.

The employees organised mass meetings at the airline offices across the country on June 19. From June 22 to June 25,they wore black badges and on June 26 they staged sit-ins across the country. The unions had decided that if the airline management fails to give them salaries on June 30,they would boycott their work by adopting ‘no pay,no work’ policy.