Mumbai: These are tough times for Air India as the deadlock between the management and employees continues. The unions are now threatening a walkout if the airline doesn't pay their salaries.
Reacting to the call of strike by the employees, Air India has termed it illegal, and has warned that no salary would be given to they go ahead with the strike.
Air India has said that its employees are the least affected by economic meltdown in the industry.
Air India has said that striking employees will also face withdrawal of Productivity Linked Incentive if they proceed with the strike.
In his reaction to the developments, Air India chief Arvind Jadhav has said, "We should be prepared to face harsh decisions to meet current situation."
"If fuel, bank liabilities are not paid on time, operations could stop. The employees need to understand that Air India is in dire financial straits," he added.
However, passenger may have to face flight delays if they are traveling by Air India on Friday. The reason is that Air India may not be able to pay salaries to lower grade employees as earlier promised.
In protest, over 20,000 workers will stop work between 1 pm and 3 pm on Friday.
"We have learnt from the accounts department of Air India that they are not in a position to pay. The entire higher management has gone incommunicado. If 20,000 of the airlines employees come out and protest then it means no flights can take off or land anywhere in the country," said George Abraham, secretary, Aviation Industry Employees Guild.
The cash-strapped airline had earlier announced that there would be a two week delay in the June salaries paid to 32 000 employees. After a long negotiation with unions, the airline agreed to pay lower-grade employees like baggage handlers and junior clerks by July 3. Now that promise may not be kept.
Air India's monthly wage bill is around Rs 300 crore and the company is seeking Rs 15,000 crore from the government.
But while it tries to cut corners, it's clear it may not be able to avoid paying wages for much longer.