Air India pilot unions oppose 10% cut in employees’ allowances

Air India’s pilots requested Bansal to advise the senior executive management to draw up fair cost cutting measures and not to manipulate the system to safeguard their salaries by burdening the front-line soldiers of the national carrier.

State-owned Air India’s pilot unions on Friday opposed the 10 per cent cut in employees’ allowances, terming the decision as “unequal” and that goes against the spirit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the companies to ensure that the salaries of the employees are not slashed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Air India has moved to reduce 10% of allowances paid to all employees, except cabin crew, for a period of three months to tide over the economic fallout of Covid-19. (PTI)

In a joint letter to Air India chief Rajiv Bansal on Friday, the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said the reduction in allowance was against the labour and employment ministry’s advisory to all employers of public or private establishments not to terminate their employees or reduce their wages.

The letter read: ‘By effecting a 10% cut on allowances for all employees, the category that has been affected the most are pilots. Flying related allowances of pilots’ wages, the directors and senior management executives have deviously exempted themselves from any meaningful austerity cut as their allowances are extremely small while pilots and cabin crew who are the front-line warriors flying and risking their lives, are forced to bear the maximum cut.’

The airline pilots requested Bansal to advise the senior executive management to draw up fair cost cutting measures and not to manipulate the system to safeguard their salaries by burdening the front-line soldiers of the national carrier. “We are open to discussion on alternative. We hereby seek your urgent intervention,” the pilots said.

“While all the other employees are paid in full, flying crew alone are made to bear the brunt with delayed flying allowance. Implementation of sham austerity measures to cut the flying allowances on top of all this would be adding insult to injury,” the pilots complained.

Two days after Modi’s appeal during his televised address to the nation on imposition of a 21-day lockdown to curb spread of the coranvirus infection, Air India decided to reduce 10% of allowances paid to all employees, except cabin crew, for a period of three months to tide over the economic fallout of Covid-19. The reduction, however, did not impact the basic pay, house rent allowance and variable dearness allowance.

With inputs from agencies.