Thousands Air India employees, continuing with their agitation, staged a sit-in on Friday at their respective stations across the nation to protest against the airline management's decision to defer payment of their salaries by a fortnight.
"Protesting against Air India management's decision, employees associated with the three unions today staged sit-in at their respective stations across the nation," J B Kadian, general secretary of Air Corporation Employee's Union (ACEU) said.
Hundreds of AI employees, associated with the three unions -- ACEU, Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG) and Indian Aircraft Technician's Association (IATA) - protested near the office of the airline's Executive Director's (Northern Region) at the IGI airport in New Delhi.
"The airline staff came in shifts to participate in the sit-in. This has been done so that no flights are affected and passengers do not face any inconvenience," V J Deka, Regional General Secretary of AIEG said, adding the stir was withdrawn in the evening.
About 24,000 AI employees, associated with the three unions, had earlier decided to wear black badges from June 22 to 25 as mark of protest.
They had said if the management fails to issue their salaries on June 30, they would boycott their duties under the "no pay no work" policy, which is likely to affect the operations of the national carrier.
On Thursday, during their meeting with Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Arvind Jadhav, the unions had refused any renegotiation of wage agreement with the management after it proposed a wage cut to employees to tide over the financial crunch faced by the airlines.
The unions also demanded a re-look by the management into the company's new aircraft acquisition policy as it has substantially contributed to the air carrier's present financial difficulties.
Another round of meeting between the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) management and various employees' unions is currently underway in Mumbai.
NACIL is the holding company of the state-run airline and was formed after the merger of Air India and India Airlines.
