The Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) has criticised the alleged distribution of charge-sheets by the airline’s management to approximately 200 cabin crew members who reported sick during last month’s strike, deeming it an unfortunate and unjust labor practice.
In a letter addressed to Air India Express chief Alok Singh on Sunday (June 9), the Union cautioned the Tata Group-owned airline’s management about the potential negative repercussions of such actions on the company and its passengers.
According to Union sources, the charge-sheets were dispatched to around 200 cabin crew members on June 5, with a 72-hour deadline for response.
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Why were Air India Express crew members on strike?
In early May, approximately 200 cabin crew members of Air India Express initiated a strike to protest against alleged mismanagement within the airline, leading to the cancellation of numerous flights. In response, the airline management terminated the contracts of 25 cabin crew members and issued warnings to others, instructing them to return to work or face similar consequences.
The strike was later called off following a conciliation meeting between cabin crew representatives and airline management at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in Delhi on May 9.
“The charge-sheet was issued by the Chief of HR to many of the cabin crew members regarding their sick reports. It is very unfortunate and constitutes unfair labour practice to reopen the case and issue charge-sheets for matters that have already been settled through conciliation.”
“The termination orders of the 25 cabin crew members were also withdrawn during conciliation based on the settlement agreement,” the Union, which is affiliated to the RSS, said in the letter.
Union urges management to avoid resurfacing of resolved issues
In the letter, AIXEU President K K Vijayakumar urged the management to refrain from revisiting resolved issues, emphasizing that such actions could harm both the company and its passengers. “Such actions could be detrimental to the interests of the enterprise and its passengers. Instead, I urge you to seek opportunities for cooperation to strengthen our industrial relations,” he said in the letter.
Instead, he urged cooperation to strengthen industrial relations. The entirety of the matter was deliberated before the Central Labour Commissioner (CLC) on May 9 and was resolved amicably between the management and the union.
He added, “Pursuing the charge-sheet and initiating punitive action against employees would only lead to unpleasant situations and worsen the already affected industrial relations.”
“It was clearly stated in the last hearing held on May 28 in front of the CLC that no punitive action would be initiated against the employees in this regard,” the Union further said.
“Additionally, since the issue was settled on May 9, I believe that the employees were available for duty the following day. However, numerous flight cancellations occurred due to data loss from newly introduced software, as no backup was maintained by the concerned department and no training was provided to handle the software,” it said.
Additionally, the Union pointed out operational shortcomings, attributing flight cancellations to data loss from newly implemented software due to a lack of backup and insufficient training, rather than the fault of cabin crew employees.