Air India seeks bailout, employees may strike
India - Air India is seeking a Rs.10,000 crore (approximately US$2 billion) bailout package from the central government amidst threats by employees to stage a strike due to a possible delay in wage payment.
National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), the parent company of Air India, earlier announced that it would delay the salaries of its 31,000 employees by 15 days. The management has also requested that the airline's top executives forgo one month their salary.
However, employees at the airline did not accept the management's proposal and threatened to stage an indefinite strike starting 1 July if the management delays their salaries.
Arvind Jadhav, chairman and MD of Air India, Civil Aviation secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar and other senior ministry and airline officials met the principal secretary to the prime minister, T.K.A. Nair, last week with the request a US$2 billion bailout package.
Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India has since put his weight behind Air India's request for financial assistance and is said to have told Praful Patel, minister for Civil Aviation, that the government will help as long as the airline is willing to put its best foot forward, the Hindu Business Line reported.
According to the Hindu Times, the prime minister has also suggested that the airline adopt various cost-cutting measures to improve the financial condition of the NACIL.
The airline had earlier requested a bailout package worth Rs.15,000 crore from the government, media sources said.
Air India's employee unions are in continued negotiations with the management ahead of their decision to boycott work.
The unions have held several rounds of discussion with Jadhav and other management representatives in Delhi and Mumbai over the past few weeks, with employees suggesting several cost cutting measures to increase savings for the airline.
"We had a marathon meeting with the CMD (chairman and MD) on Friday. It was inconclusive. We may be meeting again in the next few days," George Abraham, general secretary of Aviation Industry Employees Guild said.
Among the measures suggested by the unions, the management has accepted and notified the leave without pay (LWP) scheme for the employees.
Union leaders have said that they would not accept any proposal to cut employees' salaries.
The airline also stuck to its stand and said that it would delay the June salaries of its 31,000 employees by 15 days.
As a result, employees on Friday staged a protest demonstration outside the domestic terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi against the airline's decision to defer salaries.
Air India officials said they were working on setting up committees to assess the reasons for the current financial problems plaguing the airline, officials said.
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