Loaders employed with SpiceJet are protesting against salary cuts and have gone on strike at Mumbai airport. This is causing delays in baggage delivery. The loaders have been receiving just half their salaries for months now. With no clue as to when their salaries will be restored to their original sums, the staff, including drivers of loading vehicles, have finally decided to go on strike.
With the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport being the second busiest airport in India, the strike is definitely going to affect services.
In November 2020, SpiceJet’s total income in the second quarter was revealed to be Rs1,305 crore as against Rs 3,074 crore during the same time in 2019. Expenses for the same period were Rs1,418 crore as against Rs 3,536 crore.
In May 2020, SpiceJet had communicated to its staff that unlike other airlines that had resorted to retrenchment, it would not lay off employees. Instead, it had decided to pay part salaries to more than 92 per cent of its staff.
At the time, SpiceJet had come up with a structure wherein they were paying staff according to their work hours even while maintaining basic limits.
These were temporary measures and employees had been told that the plan will be reviewed after operations are restored and the business experiences some semblance of normalcy. The Airline had planned to give suitable allowances to its operations staff who stayed on with them through the pandemic and till flights resumed.
