Disheartening impact on mind, health due to pay cuts: Air India service engineers

Air India service engineers have joined the unrest on pay cuts and told the management that the 40 per cent pay cut is leading to resentment among the employees leading to a disheartening impact on their mind and health.

In a letter to Air India Chairman and Managing Director, All India Service Engineers Association said that they are shocked to a see a huge 30 per cent pay cut in the salary for the month of June. This is in addition to the 10 per cent pay cut in March, April and May taking the total deduction to 40 per cent.

"We would like to inform you that the recent paycut is arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory and is in gross violation of the law of the land," the association said.

"This has resulted in a state of unrest and resentment among our member employees leaving a disheartening psychological impact on their mind, health and day to day working/life," the service engineers said.

They have pointed out that the pay cut violates the Industrial Disputes Act and there is an order of the Supreme Court on pay cuts during the pandemic.

The association said they supported the airline during the lockdown period and helped to undertake the Vande Bharat mission to bring Indian from abroad.

‘We spent money from our own pocket to attend duty as there was strict lockdown and there was no public transport. Even the management provided minimal transport facility without social distancing norms thereby risking the lives of employees," they said in the letter.

Air India employees said that there has been no cut in other PSUs or Indian Railways which have been hit financially or operationally by the pandemic.

They have demanded that the "unilaterial, irrational, illegal and discriminatory pay cut" be withdrawn with immediate effect.