air india strikes – causes

AADIT, BHARAT, MUKTEE AND SARINA – IX IA

overview of strike

▶ The strikes were performed by unhappy pilots of the company.

"In the REC meeting held in Delhi on June 06, Delhi REC unanimously
decided that no wages on time amount to financial stress and mental
agony, thereby resulting in undue fatigue, which is severely affecting
flight safety. With no notification about delayed salary payment,
members are being hounded by financial institutions constantly,
severely affecting their day to day life. Keeping in view of the above
consideration, REC has decided to STOP Complete Co-Operation with
the Management till the time salary payment is regularized and normal
functioning is restored,” reads a letter from the REC.
overview of strike causes
▶ Staff has been complaining of three months of delayed pay (11,000 employees)
▶ Staff believes they are paid less than employees in other airlines
▶ Staff on leave has been called back to complete work
▶ Staff is demoralized
▶ Staff has been laid off, and employees have went on strike because they
believe it was “unfair”, and that they deserve their job back
▶ Staff is not being given bonuses, eg. Diwali bonuses
why are their conditions so bad?

▶ Air India has been in debt and making losses (a

50,000 crores debt, and losses for 2016-17 was
about 5,765 crores)
▶ Air India is extremely overstaffed, with over 20,000
employees that they can’t simply “lay off” due to
lack of transparency in an employee-retention
clause, which takes a big chunk of money
▶ Even before strikes, service was not good: “The
traffic data report updated by airlines for the
month shows maximum complaints against Air
India at 263 per 10,000 passengers carried, which
have not entirely been addressed by the airline.”
At the same time, they have the lowest domestic
airlines market share (13.3%)
why are their conditions so bad?

▶ Prices of raw goods like fuel have been rising,

which will mean higher prices and lower demand
and therefore lower revenue
▶ Since Air India is run by the government,
politicians are freely handing out freebies to their
family and friends thus resulting in loss of revenue
for the company.
▶ Another key reason for the ongoing crisis is the
failed merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. The
split between the two systems is evident as not
only pilots and the cabin crew, but also the junior
staff and managers compete for allowances,
wage hike and holidays.
what can they do or have been
doing to fix this?
▶ No one is willing to buy the failed company and invest in it, because
it would take a lot of money
▶ Privatization is also not an option for the same reason
▶ Billions of dollars have already been wasted; to save billions of
(taxpayer) dollars in the future, as well, the only way out might be
complete abandonment of the airline.
●thank you●