Technicians announce strike, likely to cause trouble for Air India
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New Delhi: Aircraft technicians for Air India Ltd are planning strike later this month after Vistara faced crisis over pilots ‘ protest.
The state run maintenance and repair firm, which was previously a unit of Air India, announced strike on April 23 raising issues affecting their ‘well-being’ and ‘professional growth’ Bloomberg reported citing All India Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Union’s letter to the chief executive officer.
Major airliners in the country including Air India, IndiGo and Akasa are planning fleet expansion having placed orders for more than 1,000 aircraft combined.
Protest and unrest among workers may well thwart India’s travel boom as the country is aiming greater development goals including increasing the size of its economy.
The strike by aircraft technicians will take place as another carrier Vistara, owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines Ltd, canceled hundred of flights after pilots called in sick over pay cuts.
Meanwhile, the letter by All India Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Union claimed that employees have not been promoted over the past seven years.
Despite a revised pay structure was promised for technicians working with the firm at least for two years, it has not yet been followed through, according to the report.
The contractual employees, forming 75 per cent of the workforce, are upset over not getting many benefits as the permanent staff alongside having to serve longer notice periods, the letter reportedly alleged.
Aircraft technicians in the letter asked the management to avoid likely disruptions from strike by resolving the issues.