Keeping in view the proposed two-hour agitation by the Joint Action Forum, through staff notice,  Air India has warned all its employees of 'firm' action if the flights are delayed. Calling the agitation as 'illegal', the staff notice said that the agitation would violate the Industrial Disputes Act. 

"All employees are aware that the company is going through a critical financial situation, and at this stage, any disruption to flights will adversely affect the image of the company. The proposed illegal strike is likely to have an adverse impact on our esteemed passengers," it said. Last night, AI CMD Arvind Jadhav had written to the employees that besides wages and salary payments every month, fuel and bank liabilities like interest and principal payments, have to be paid on time.

 "Considering the critical financial status of the airline, we should all be prepared to face the impact of harsh decisions that will be required to be taken to meet the current situation," Jadhav had said, adding that all staffers would have to "sacrifice some of the privileges we have enjoyed so far." However, the unions blamed the management of "going back on their word" to pay the salaries by today.

The unions had called off their proposed strike on June 30 after the management agreed to pay salaries of 70 per cent of workers by today. They were protesting the earlier decision of the management to defer the June salary by the middle of this month.

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