Air India Pilots' Association Seeks 'Urgent Meeting' With Hardeep Singh Puri Over 'Unilateral Wage Cut'
The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association, which includes pilots of the national carrier Air India, wrote a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, requesting an urgent meeting over "unilateral wage cut".
New Delhi, November 30: The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), which includes pilots of the national carrier Air India, on Monday wrote a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, requesting an urgent meeting over "indefinite and unilateral wage cut". In its letter, the ICPA said pilots of Air India are facing up to 70 percent cut in their salaries. Hong Kong Bans Air India Flights For 5th Time After Some Passengers Test COVID-19 Positive.
"The frontline workers of Air India, Air India Express and Alliance Air pilots continue to be shackled with an indefinite and unilateral cut of up to 70% while the indifferent company top management contributes a namesake 10%," the ICPA said. "The DGCA has offered contract FOI's special as well as a Non-Flying Compensation. We fail to understand why barbaric austerity measures apply only to Air India pilots," it added. Air India to Launch First Direct Flight Between Bengaluru and San Francisco from January 11, 2021:
The pilots' association sought to know why pay cuts of Air India pilots were increased when other airlines are returning to normal pay. "Kindly note that while the other airlines are rolling back the austerity pay cuts for their pilots, the wage cut for Air India [ilots further increased from October 2020. This is completely divorced from market reality and equally unfair to pilots of Air India and its subsidiaries," the ICPA said.
The pilots' association questioned over a month-long process for returning to work after a pilot test positive for coronavirus, asking: "Is it fair to deny these pilots their livelihood due to an occupational hazard." "The airline top management has let us down tremendously. Our pilots have expressed their displeasure and are extremely troubled by this unwarranted ordeal," the ICPA added.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 30, 2020 02:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).