COVID-19: Air India cuts crew wages by 40pc to survive
Surroundings India has slashed the salaries of its pilots and cabin crew with retrospective effect from April 1 until further find, the airline announced recently.
As the cash-strapped carrier said the cut is about 40 %, crew customers said the amount is a lot higher, almost 85 %.
AI includes a monthly wage costs of RS 230 crore. However, the airline didn't disclose just how much it expects to save lots of from the fork out cuts.
"As per the guidelines of the aviation ministry and approval of the Board of Directors of AI, it has been made a decision to rationalise the allowances of personnel," said an office buy issued by Meenakshi Kashyap, General Manager, Industrial Relations, Oxygen India.
Employees with gross month to month earnings of RS 25,000 have already been spared any pay lower. For pilots, the purchase brought up 11 allowances - that comprise most the total pay - such as flying allowance, special pay, widebody allowance, check allowance and instructor/examiner allowance have already been cut by 40 %.
"Flying allowance to be paid on actual time flown by an individual pilot in a month. However, as a special case, all pilots available for flying will become paid fixed 20 time of flying allowance or actuals, whichever is bigger in a month, during Q1 and Q2 of financial year 2020-21 on revised flying allowance rate," browse the order.
For cabin crew, the order explained check, standby, flying, widebody, domestic layover and quick go back allowances will be deducted by 20 % and the same will be paid out on actual flying hours.
The Executive pilots of AI have written to the airline Chairman Rajiv Bansal opposing the pay cuts.
"Retrospective action of denying a worker as high as 85 % of his/her rightfully earned wages for job already done, which in any case are long overdue. The hourly rate is reduced by 50 % and the assured time lowered from 70 to 20 hours, ie, 70 per cent. The two combined, total an 85 per cent reduction in our current wages. That is for missions flown, which were critical for the country. On what basis can such gross injustice become explained?" the letter browse.
It further read, "Through the early weeks (March, April and could 2020) of the pandemic in India, as the country handled a nationwide lockdown and most citizens remained safely indoors with their families, we ventured forth to accomplish our bounden duty. We flew to the farthest corners of a global gripped by the deadly and largely unknown virus for the purpose of repatriating, not merely our citizens, but citizens of other countries aswell... In these uncertain instances, while the virus continues to be an unfamiliar and dreaded enemy, we continue steadily to expose ourselves and our adored ones to COVID-19, with regard to our nation and its persons, and because we firmly believe it is our moral obligation to do so."
The pilots spoke of facing "numerous and extreme societal and domestic pressures" in the discharge of their duties in the pandemic times. "...we have flown and even now continue steadily to fly long hours in unquestionably uncomfortable suffocating conditions donning PPE kits, and continue steadily to live in constant fear of exposure. We have also been subject to repetitive and invasive medical examinations and so are harassed by the residents in the areas we have a home in for flying to additional nations.... different AI pilots possess contracted the virus, within the type of duty," the Executive pilots explained in the letter, requesting the airline control to "right this gross injustice".
