Air India Express Cabin crew decided on Thursday to withdraw their strike and the airline agreed to reinstate 25 staff members who were dismissed from the service, according to sources.
A section of the cabin crew began calling in sick from Tuesday night to protest the airline’s alleged mismanagement, which forced the cancellation of more than 170 flights and affected thousands of passengers at several airports.
The decisions to end the strike and withdraw the dismissal letters were agreed upon during a conciliation meeting between representatives of the cabin crew and the airline management at the Office of the Chief Labor Commissioner (Central) in the national capital. Thursday.
The meeting, which lasted almost five hours, was between representatives of the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) and the airline’s management. The union is affiliated to RSS associate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).
After the meeting, Girish Chandra Arya, all India secretary of BMS, said the dismissal of 25 Air India Express cabin crew had been withdrawn.
Both sides will discuss the issues and there will be a meeting again on May 28, he said.
After detailed discussion, persuasion and appeal by the Conciliation Officer and the Chief Labor Commissioner, the union representatives agreed that “all cabin crew members who have reported sick will report for work with fitness certificate immediately, as per a document signed by the representatives”. of the union and the airline.
“Upon appeal by the Chief Labor Commissioner (Central), the management agreed to reinstate 25 cabin crew who were dismissed on May 7 and 8, 2024 for declaring themselves ill as an immediate concerted action.
“Management will review the cases of these crew members according to service regulations,” he said.
According to the document, airline representatives assured that all issues that cabin crew raise with management and during conciliation procedures will be analyzed and resolved.
Earlier in the day, the Tata Group airline said it canceled 85 flights or about 23 per cent of total operating capacity due to cabin crew shortage and will operate 283 flights.
To minimize disruption, Air India is operating flights on 20 Air India Express routes, which has reduced services until May 13.
Sources, earlier in the day, said around 250 cabin crew called in sick on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Ministry sought a report from Air India Express on the cancellation of flights and also asked the airline to resolve problems promptly.
Discontent has been brewing among a section of Air India Express staff after the start of the process to merge AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself. A sector of the cabin crew has denounced poor management and lack of equality in the treatment of staff. A conciliation process is underway under the Industrial Disputes Act after a union representing a section of Air India Express cabin crew lodged a complaint with the Labor Department last year.
Room sharing, lack of adequate support, revised pay structure and alleged differential treatment of experienced Air India Express crew members are among the issues flagged by the striking cabin crew.
In a message to airline staff, Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh said on Wednesday that since last night more than 100 cabin crew members have called in sick before their flight shift, “in the last minute, seriously disrupting our operations. .
“The outages have spread to the entire network, forcing us to cut schedules for the next few days. We had to do so to address the unavailability of crew and recover schedules,” Singh had said.
He also said the company’s management is available for any discussions if there are concerns that need to be addressed.
The Air India Express cabin crew strike came a month after Vistara, the Tata Group’s full-service airline, witnessed issues with pilots, forcing it to temporarily reduce capacity by 10 percent. cent, or between 25 and 30 flights daily.
As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect, as well as Vistara with Air India.
This story comes from a syndicated feed from third party agencies. DailyNewsHype accepts no responsibility for the reliability, reliability and data of the text. DailyNewsHype Management/DailyNewsHype.com reserves the exclusive right to alter, delete or delete (without notice) the content at its sole discretion for any reason.