Air India tells employees to forgo July salary

But employees are not impressed. “We had a meeting with the management,and we realise that we are in a bad shape but what we don’t know is who brought us here,” said a senior official from the airline. “What were they (management) upto when others (private carriers) were rationalising on their routes and cutting down on unprofitable routes?” he said. “What is pertinent here is the fact that of the Rs 10,000 crore losses that Indian aviation is bound to face,we have a share of 50 per cent in that with just above 17 per cent of the market,” he said. “It is the employees’ right to ask what were they thinking when taking decisions that has put us in such a crisis.”

“We cannot comment on the matter but we are not happy,” said Dinkar Shetty,president of Air Corporations Employees’ Union (ACEU). “Be it the executives or the management,nobody should face such situations,” he added. Shetty’s ACEU along with other unions today held demonstrations at the Mumbai airport against June’s wage deferment.

“As a gesture to ease the liquidity crunch faced by the airline,Mr Jadhav has requested all executives at the level of general manager and above to voluntarily forego salary and productivity-linked incentive payable in the month of July 2009,” said the company’s statement.