Air India employees withdraw strike call

Air India said yesterday, its employees had withdrawn a proposed strike, after their salary concerns were ''amicably resolved'' by the national carrier, ending weeks of uncertainty for passengers booked on the carrier.

"The matter has been amicably resolved, with Air India assuring the unions of payments of salary and allowances as per agreed timeline," the carrier said in a satement.

A joint forum of various unions, associations and guilds of Air India wrote to the company's chairman last week and threatened to resort to a strike if their salaries were not paid, aviation minister Ajit Singh had told lawmakers on Wednesday. (See: Air India pilots threaten strike from 2 April)

The threatened action by a major chunk of Air India's over 28,000 employees from Monday was withdrawn yesterday with the ailing national carrier promising to clear all their salary and other dues by June.

"We received their (strike) notice today. We have given them a payment schedule under which we will clear all the overdues by June. The strike has been called off," Rohit Nandan, Air India CMD told reporters after a meeting with union representatives in New Delhi.

The notice for 'no-pay, no-work' agitation was given by eight major unions of the airline. These represented pilots, engineers and cabin crew among others, and was aimed at protesting the delay in payment of their salaries, productivity-linked incentive (PLI) and other allowances by over three months.