NEW DELHI: Air India’s eight labour unions, which jointly claim the allegiance of the national carrier’s 20,000 odd staff, on Friday called off the proposed strike scheduled to begin on April 2, after the management gave a written schedule on payment dates, in the presence of a Member of Parliament.
Earlier, the talks between the union representatives and the management had failed to break the deadlock. However, the matter was taken up by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, with all the members supporting the employees’ demand that the backlog of wages must be cleared in order to avoid the impending ‘no pay no work’ agitation. And on Friday, a meeting was held at the Airlines House in New Delhi, in the presence of Rajya Sabha member Bhalchandra Mungekar, the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India and representatives of the unions during which the management made a specific commitment with respect to the schedule of payment for the backlog of wages.
This was accepted by employees’ representatives.
The management had sent a letter to these unions, promising to pay one additional PLI, layover subsistence allowance whichever was applicable by April 15, May 15 and June 15.