These employees under the banner of Joint Forum wrote to Civil Aviation Secretary, Vumlunmang Vualnam on Tuesday demanding disbursement of the revised salary before the company pays revised salary to the technicians who are on Fixed Term Contract.
AIESL, which was earlier part of Air India before privatisation was carved out of the parent as a separate engineering arm of the airline in 2014.
Currently under Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), the maintenance, repair and overhaul service provider has around 5,000 employees.
These include 1,900 permanent aircraft technicians, service engineers, aircraft maintenance engineers as well as executive grade engineers, as per AIESL sources.
“If action is not taken promptly, we’ll have to caution the AIESL management regarding the potential for spontaneous actions or industrial unrest among our members,” the Joint Forum said in the letter.
The employees also stated that despite their acceptance of the pay revision that was to be effective from January 2017, the AIESL management has failed to implement it till date.
Just last week, the union representing FTE staff at the company withdrew its call for strike after arriving at a settlement regarding their grievances, including on salary revision and promotions.
“This decision of the management of revising the salaries of only a certain section of employees is perplexing, especially considering that the management has
substantially increased the salaries of all the FTEs including non-technical staff multiple times in the recent past,” the Joint Forum stated in the letter.
“We trust that your good office will give due consideration to our concerns and take immediate steps to rectify the situation,” the letter said.
Sources at the company say that since AIESL is a PSU, the wages to its permanent employees should also be in line with the wages of permanent employees of other PSUs.
“Your swift action in resolving these issues will not only restore the trust and confidence of our members but also contribute to fostering a harmonious and productive work environment,” the Joint Forum said in the letter.