A section of the Air India Employees Union has begun its two-hour strike to protest the delay in payment of salaries.
The Aviation Industry Employees Guild, the Air Corporation Employees Union and some other unions had earlier threatened to walk out of their offices nationwide and stage demonstrations from 1300-1500 hours today, besides threatening to boycott meetings with the management.
Air India on Friday warned its employees of wage and allowance cuts if they participated in the two-hour 'illegal' walkout to protest delayed payment of salaries.
The managment issued a staff notice warning that 'any participation in the illegal strike would be viewed seriously and appropriate action, including deduction of wages and withdrawal of productivity-linked incentive till further orders, will be taken.'
In Mumbai, an airline spokesman said steps were being taken to ensure smooth operations across all airports. "Air India is taking requisite steps at airports to ensure that passengers do not face any inconvenience," he told PTI.
Warning the employees of 'firm' action if flights were disrupted and passengers inconvenienced, the staff notice said the agitation by the Joint Action Forum would violate the Industrial Disputes Act and was 'tantamount to illegal strike.'
'All employees are aware that the company is going through a critical financial situation and, at this stage, any disruption to flights will adversely affect the image of the company. The proposed illegal strike is likely to have an adverse impact on our esteemed passengers,' it said.
On Thursday night, AI CMD Arvind Jadhav had written to the employees that, besides wages and salary payments every month, fuel and bank liabilities like interest and principal payments, have to be paid on time.
"Considering the critical financial status of the airline, we should all be prepared to face the impact of harsh decisions that will be required to be taken to meet the current situation," Jadhav had said, adding that all staffers would have to "sacrifice some of the privileges we have enjoyed so far." However, the unions blamed the management of "going back on their word" to pay the salaries by today.
The unions had called off their proposed strike on June 30 after the management agreed to pay salaries of 70 per cent of workers by today. They were protesting the earlier decision of the management to defer the June salary by the middle of this month.