Air India Express cabin crew strike: a spillover of long-standing discontent?

The flash strike that led to the cancellation of many Air India Express flights on Wednesday is seen as the implosion of long-simmering resentment among some cabin crew. Sources said grievances regarding mismanagement, remuneration and dismissal were raised earlier but did not elicit any response from the top management.

“We have a five-year contract renewal process. Employees with long years of service are often fired for unfair reasons. In the event of a passenger complaint, we risk termination, otherwise the contract will be renewed for one year only. There is a feeling of job insecurity and uncertainty about our future,” said a staff member who wished to remain anonymous.

On April 26, the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) sent a letter to Natarajan Chandrasekharan, Chairman of Air India Limited, reiterating a series of grievances regarding alleged mismanagement at Air India Express Limited. The letter said “unrest and discontent” had increased among employees since the takeover by TATA. The letter highlights that essential allowances such as HRA, TA, DA which were part of employees’ remuneration before the merger have been completely removed, resulting in significant salary reductions.
“If you look at the history of Air India, this type of protest is unheard of. So far we have not done anything that could affect the passengers and the reputation of the organization. We were forced to take this extreme step due to our mental stress,” said a staff member.

Air India Express canceled more than 80 flights and many flights were delayed as some of the cabin crew called in sick to protest alleged mismanagement at the Tata group-owned airline. The airline, which is in the process of merging AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) with itself, is scheduled to operate 360 ​​daily flights during the summer schedule that began in the last week of March.

An Air India Express spokesperson said the airline was engaging with cabin crew members to understand the reasons for their reporting illness and also apologized for the flight disruptions.

“Some of our cabin crew called in sick at the last minute, starting last night, leading to flight delays and cancellations. As we speak with the crew to understand the reasons for These events, our teams are actively addressing this issue to minimize any inconvenience caused to our customers as a result.
We sincerely apologize to our customers for this unexpected disruption and emphasize that this situation does not reflect the level of service we strive to provide. Customers affected by cancellations will be offered a full refund or free rescheduling to another date.
Passengers traveling with us today are requested to check whether their flight is affected before heading to the airport,” the Air India Express spokesperson said.