The national carrier Air India’s leave without pay (LWP) scheme, as part of its cost-cutting drive during Covid-19, has not gone down well with its employees’ body. Now the International Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) has written a letter to the Air India CMD and threatened to start a legal battle.
“Any unilateral change by Air India from agreed-upon wage settlement would be illegal and will not be in the interest of our National Carrier at this crucial juncture. Such a situation has the potential to flair to unprecedented magnitude,” it said. It also said that it supports the temporary austerity measures in the wake of economic distress triggered by the pandemic, but has slammed the management for its proposal with regards to restructuring of wages. This came after Air India had last week approved a scheme whereby employees can opt for a leave without pay scheme for six months to up to five years. When contacted by The Daily Guardian, an Air India spokesperson said, “We wouldn’t like to make any comment on these internal issues.”