Flying crew will be paid as per the actual number of hours flown, Air India said in a statement. However, employees claim that LWP is merely a lay-off without legally due payments.
[REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE] File photo of an Air India flight (Photo Credits: PTI)
Following strong reactions from its pilots, Air India has issued a statement saying that recent decisions of the national carrier’s Board regarding rationalization of staff cost were reviewed in a meeting at the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday evening.
“The meeting reiterated that unlike other carriers which have laid off large number of their employees, no employee of Air India will be laid off,” the carrier’s statement on Twitter said. It further added that there has been no reduction in the basic pay, dearness allowance and house rent allowance of any employee.
Allowances had to be rationalized owing to the airline’s difficult financial situation already exacerbated by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the statement added. Air India further clarified that its flying crew will be paid as per the actual number of hours flown and the Board’s measures regarding allowances will be reviewed as domestic and international flight operations expand gradually.
Recent decisions of AirIndia Board regarding rationalization of staff cost were reviewed in a meeting at @MoCA_goi this evening.The meeting reiterated that unlike other carriers which have laid off large number of their employees,no employee of AirIndia will be laid off. (1/3)
— Air India (@airindiain) July 23, 2020
Responding to the statement, the Air India Joint Forum of Unions said on Thursday, “It is not a lay-off but a compulsory leave without pay (LWP), which is merely a lay-off without legally due payments.”
Earlier this month, India’s national carrier approved a scheme enabling its Chairperson and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal to place employees on compulsory leave without pay for six months or a period of two years, extendable up to five years. The scheme was approved during the 102nd meeting of Air India’s Board of Directors.
Employees, including pilots of the airline responded to the decision in a letter to MD Rajiv Bansal describing the measures as “humiliating” and “hillarious”. In the letter, employees pointed out that a 60 per cent salary cut is being proposed for them at a time when they are yet to receive 70 per cent of their salaries due since April of this year.
“It is hilarious to note that the top management has proposed a meagre 3.5 per cent cut on its own gross salary. For e.g. the Director Personnel takes a minuscule cut of 4 per cent on gross pay while a co-pilot, who is paid less than the market, is given a cut of 60 per cent,” the letter had stated.
